It was exactly a year ago today . . . arguably the most important day in Oxford United’s history.

The day when they celebrated winning the Blue Square Premier play-off final at Wembley – and getting out of the Conference at the fourth attempt.

In the 12 months since, the U’s have established themselves in the Football League, with a solid 12th place in League Two, finishing just five points outside of the play-off places.

And the club’s fans have shown themselves to be among the most loyal and supportive in the land.

Manager Chris Wilder believes the club has come on a lot in a year.

“All we can look for is improvement, we feel we have improved and we will strive to keep improving,” he said.

“Those that have watched us play this year are a touch disappointed that we didn’t get the extra couple of wins that would have got us into the play-offs.

“It has been a learning year.

“We gave the players who had got us promotion up till Christmas the opportunity to show us they were good enough then changed it around and since Christmas we have points-wise been good enough.

“As long as the club keeps progressing, and moving onwards and upwards, I’m happy.

“There are always going to be some people who think we should have done better, and been among the clubs pushing for promotion this year.

“But 99 per cent know where we’re at and what we’re trying to do.”

United’s fan base has also increased during the year, and their average home gate of just under 7,300 was considerably up on the 6,296 and 5,347 average gates of their last two seasons in the Football League.

Chairman Kelvin Thomas told the fans last week: “We were the second best supported club in League Two, and the tenth best supported club outside the Championship over the course of the season.

“Added to the fact that we already had over 2,700 people commit to season tickets before the season had even finished we already look like having a fantastic backing once again next season.”