Wilder eyes mood swing for Oxford United (From The Oxford Times)

Wilder eyes mood swing for Oxford United

9:30am Friday 22nd March 2013 in Sport By David Pritchard, Chief Sports Reporter covering Oxford United. Follow us on twitter: @oxfordmailoufc. Call me on 01865 425458

OXFORD United have had a season of extremes and manager Chris Wilder admits tomorrow’s visit to Northampton will be no different.

With just seven draws this season, the joint lowest in npower League Two, it has invariably been win or bust for the U’s so far.

A 1-0 defeat to Chesterfield last Saturday punctured the optimism which had built up from winning their two previous games.

And the mood around the club is likely to swing one way or the other tomorrow depending on the result from a potentially pivotal fixture.

Win and United could be within three points of the top seven – firmly back in the promotion race – while a defeat could see them eight points adrift with just six games remaining.

Wilder thinks it is still too soon to talk about must-win games, but knows how vital the outcome could become.

He said: “It would damage us, of course it would (if United lost), and it would give us a massive boost if we won.

“That’s how we’re looking at it and we’ll be trying to win, as we have done at Gillingham, Bradford, there’s no change in philosophy or approach.”

He added: “It’s been the same all season, we’re either going up or going down.

“It’s only a few weeks ago there was a chant of ‘we are staying up’ at Plymouth, I don’t know if they were being sarcastic.

“People will look at the season and some people will be deeply disappointed about it and I think some people will look at the hurdles we’ve had to overcome and for us to still be in there fighting we deserve a bit of credit.”

“We’re still in there with a chance.”

United will be backed by a large travelling support, with more than 1,100 tickets sold.

As the game is all-ticket, fans have until 3pm today to buy a seat in the away end.