OXFORD United are probably missing creative midfielder Adam Chapman, manager Chris Wilder said this week.

There has not been too much wrong with the team’s play in most of the games, apart from putting away chances.

This week’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy defeat at Aldershot was a bit different, but both teams had much-changed line-ups.

League Two is already shaping up to be a very competitive division.

And if you take out Rotherham’s crazy 6-4 win over Cheltenham and Crewe’s 7-0 drubbing of Barnet, there have been, on average, very few goals so far.

Aldershot manager Kevin Dillon said after his team’s 1-1 draw with Stevenage: “You look at the league and there were five draws last week. I think it’s going to be really tight.”

Wilder agreed. “And that’s why we have to be more clinical at the top of the pitch,” he said.

“I think we’ve been better than Burton, better than Bury and on the day I think we were better than Wycombe.

“I’m not saying we’re going to finish higher than them, but on the day, we’ve deserved to win. It’s important, when we do play well, and we do dominate the opposition, that we make it count.

“It’s a massive part of the game and I need to improve that.

“I do a lot of analysis and the two big things are, I think, we’ve missed Adam Chapman.

“Bully’s done great for us there, but I don’t think it’s his natural position, and Richie Baker missed a lot of pre-season, so he’s finding his feet a bit.

And anybody who’s seen us knows that the missing ingredient has just been a goal.

“I just think it affects so many attitudes and other parts of the game.

“Even on Tuesday, if we score first then the game has to change. They score two, in an even game, and we have to come out which leaves gaps at the back..”

After playmaker Adam Murray was injured last season, Chapman was given the role of the deep-lying midfielder who would get on the ball a lot and start off attacks.

But he is unavailable to United this season, serving a custodial sentence for causing death by dangerous driving.

Oxford have kept his registration and are hoping he is released to be able to re-join them next season.

Several U’s players have visited Chapman in open prison where, not surprisingly, he is a key member of the football team.

Meanwhile, one player on the Kassam Stadium pitch tomorrow who hasn’t had a problem scoring goals this season is Morecambe’s Andy Fleming.

Signed from Wrexham in the summer, he has already notched a brace, against Coventry in the Carling Cup, and he bagged another double last weekend, in the team’s 3-2 defeat at Burton.