Do Oxford United need an old head or two to add some experience and composure when the going gets tough?

It’s a question manager Chris Wilder admits he is giving thought to in the aftermath of their second-half capitulation at Macclesfield last Saturday.

The current United team is very young, one of the youngest the club has fielded for many seasons.

Indeed, with Dannie Bulman on a three-month loan at Crawley Town, there is not a single player in Oxford’s squad over 30.

United had a deliberate policy in the summer of trying to sign players who, as well as being able to bring energy to the team, would be assets for the club – in other words, saleable if they performed well and progressed, along with the team.

In recent seasons, there has been veteran Billy Turley and last year the U’s had Kevin Sandwith, and for a brief spell, Chris Hargreaves.

The oldest U’s player now is left back Anthony Tonkin, who is 30.

Of the clubs occupying the top three places in npower League Two – Chesterfield, Port Vale and Rotherham – most do have experience to call upon.

Chesterfield had Robert Page (36) Jack Lester (35) and Ian Breckin (35) in their squad as they won 2-1 at Wycombe last Saturday.

And Rotherham had Andy Warrington (34), Kevin Ellison (31), Paul Warne (37) and Dean Holden (31) in their line-up as they won 3-2 at Accrington Stanley.

But, in contrast, second-placed Port Vale did not have a single player aged over 30 in their squad for their 0-0 draw with Gillingham.

Asked whether bringing in an older, experienced player or two was in his thoughts, either for now or in January, Wilder replied: “I’ll possibly have to look at that.

“If I look back at our games, I think we’ve done OK . . . better than OK.

“Do I pull players out of the team, or do I say ‘you’ve got to learn from it, you’ve got to get on with it’?

“Age and experience do come into it, in a certain aspect.

“But if I bring in an older person in the middle of the park, he will not be able to influence whether we defend properly or keep the ball up front – that will only happen if I bring in four or five of them.”

United skipper James Constable said he didn’t believe the lack of exp-erienced players made a difference.

“I don’t think it’s got anything to do with age, that’s a myth,” he said.

“Look at Man Utd. They have you-ngsters and don’t throw away leads.

“It’s all a case of mental strength, and I think the trouble last Saturday was that at half-time the lads thought it was going to be an easy second half, and it ended up costing us.”