Oxford United rocketed to 11th in League Two after beating the frosts, snow, and eventually the fog on their way to seeing off Macclesfield at the Kassam Stadium yesterday.

And manager Chris Wilder pledged: “We will get better.”

Goals from Simon Heslop and James Constable – his tenth of the season – saw United to their third successive 2-1 win to leapfrog Macclesfield in the table.

The U’s were not at their fluent best, and allowed their opponents plenty of scoring opportunities, but the three points were very welcome.

The result delighted a bumper 9,440 crowd, United’s biggest of the season.

Wilder said: “A lot of people worked extremely hard to get the game on, and the three points are invaluable.

“You could see we’ve not played for a while, there was some poor decision-making at times, but we’ll get better.”

United therefore end the year on a high, just four points off the play-off places.

“We’ve got a group of players we can be extremely proud of because we go right to the end,” said the U’s boss.

“Today we’ve been average at best and got three points, but there were quite a few games earlier in the season when we were excellent and didn’t get the result.

“We’re in a healthy position off the field, and are doing well on it.”

Jack Midson made a surprise appearance on the bench after he was recalled 24 hours early from the end of his loan at Southend, after their match was postponed.

But Paul Wotton has gone back to Southampton following his loan spell at Oxford.

“He was only ever here on loan,” said Wilder. “He was great for us and we wish him all the best.”

l Match report and Face in the Crowd: Pages 30-31 l Don’t miss our look back at Oxford United in 2010 – starting tomorrow