Wilder: Cup has whetted appetite

And he stressed the long-term goal of the club is to get back to playing the likes of West Ham on a regular basis, as they used to do.

"We have to have an aim and the idea of playing West Ham week in, week out.

“We should be coming to clubs with a decent support and decent grounds week in, week out. We’ve got to make sure that happens.”

He added: “We’ve certainly got momentum, everybody sees that. We’ve got to use that to keep moving the club forward.”

It was impossible not to be impressed by Oxford on the night. For a team that has just come out of non-League, they were sensational in the way they so seldom gave the ball away, bearing in mind the quality players they were up against.

True, some of the West Ham players were lacking a bit in confidence, but there were, after all, still 67 league places between the teams.

The U’s defended well – and they played good football.

Wilder said: “Wee’ve always tried to play.

“We’ve got footballers, it’s no good whacking the ball forward, so we try to play.

“We had to be good and brave on the ball, which we were, and we had to make sure when we weren’t in possession we were solid and hard to beat.

“West Ham were going to get chances, we knew that. They’ve got super players, and we knew we may have to ride our luck at times.

“But their keeper’s made saves, our keeper’s made saves. I think we were full value.

“We’ve just got to take the positives out of this performance.

“If we can keep our shape and concentration and discipline for 92 minutes and 40 seconds, or whatever it was, we can do that every Saturday in League Two.”

Tomorrow, Oxford United play Accrington Stanley for the first time in their history, the two clubs having “passed each other” both in the early 60s, and in 2006.

Had Accrington not folded in the 1961-2 season, Oxford United may not have been elected into the Football League first time around.

The Lancashire club have since reformed and are a strong outfit.