CHRIS Wilder believes the progress made by Oxford United in pre-season has been significantly boosted by the lack of injury problems so far this summer.

There have only been minor issues since the squad returned from their summer break three weeks ago.

Josh Shama did not travel to Scotland on Monday due to a knee problem, while triallist Matt Heath has been the only one of the 23 players on tour to sit out sessions, due to an ankle knock picked up on Tuesday.

It is in stark contrast to last season, when five senior players were ruled out with significant injuries.

Michael Duberry, Peter Leven, Andy Whing, Liam Davis and Harry Worley all went under the knife during last summer.

They all missed at least the first month of the season, while Duberry was ruled out until December following neck surgery.

While careful not to tempt fate, Wilder has been delighted what he has seen.

The United manager said: “It’s fantastic, out of the days we’ve been back I think we’ve had just odd players missing the odd session. “That’s all you want, for people to get the maximum out of every training session and as a manager and a coach you want players out there, not in the treatment room.

“There are always times where you’ve got to be careful and not put too much on the players.

“We have to be mindful of putting them in a zone where they’re going to injure themselves. “Not everybody has done every session, but 90 per cent, or even more than that, have done every session.”

Recruitment during the close season has been aimed at bringing in players capable of featuring week-in week-out when the season starts next month.

Including those who have graduated from the youth set-up, a dozen players have been brought in to the first team and development squads this summer.

But despite the number of new faces, Wilder’s job of gelling the unit together has been helped because of the numbers consistently training.

He said: “It helps in every aspect, they’re not missing out and having to catch up. “They understand what we’re trying to do in all sides of pre-season and they’re right in the middle of it all. “I should imagine every manager would want everyone out there all the time and we’ve near enough managed to achieve that.”

United continue their pre-season games tomorrow at Berwick Rangers (3).