Buoyant Oxford United return to pre-season training with the players in great shape.

Manager Chris Wilder said the results of the players’ bleep tests were so impressive that none needed to come in for extra fitness training.

And Wilder admitted they were still on a high following the thrilling play-off final victory at Wembley.

“They’re bouncing, full of enthusiasm and full of sparkle, as I’d expect them to be off the back of last season.

“They’ve got a lot to look forward to,” he said. “The first day’s always a good day back.

“It’s not been a big break, but it’s a time for them to clear their heads. I’m one of those that says get away, go on holiday and relax, but they’re all conscientious and come back at a decent fitness level.

“The bleep tests show them where they’re at, who we might need to work on a bit more, but at first glance, we don’t need to get anybody back in.”

Striker Jack Midson was particularly impressive.

“I got the highest score in the bleep test, so I must have been doing something right through the summer,” he said.

“I’ve kept myself OK and have been in the gym a couple of times. I haven’t been on the big lads’ holidays and that’s kept me ahead.

“The bleep tests are a muscular endurance test, backwards and forwards.

“Rather than sprinting, where you’ve got people like Mitchell Cole, who’s very fast, this is more of an endurance thing, which is probably better for me.”

New signing Ben Purkiss said: “I was impressed with people’s fitness levels in the bleep tests.

“We’re back quite early in relation to other teams – we’ve only had five weeks off, I think – but people have been doing little bits to keep ticking over, and even the centre halves were up with good levels on their bleep tests, which you don’t normally expect.

“The gaffer struggled a little bit . . . I hope he won’t mind me saying. But it was good.

“We’ll have a couple of hard days now then a couple of days off and can hopefully hit the ground running.”

Wilder, who had tried to keep up with the players in the bleep tests, admitted with a smile: “I think I was the first one to drop out!”