Chris Wilder says he is relishing pitting his wits against Micky Adams when their teams meet at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday.

United buried the disappointment of their 1-0 defeat at Gillingham last weekend with a 5-1 hammering of Plymouth in midweek, and Wilder wants them to keep up the good work against Adams whom he played under at Brighton.

The Valiants got over a 4-0 home defeat by Morecambe last Saturday, in the perfect way, with a 3-0 victory at Bristol Rovers.

And Wilder was not surprised by how Adams’s side reacted.

“Micky is someone I have a lot of respect for,” said Wilder.

“He says it as it is. You get too many people who look after their own back. Maybe it’s the Sheffield in me and Micky.

“If we don’t deserve something (from a game), we will say it. If we are lucky, we say it. He’s the same, he’s honest and he gets on with it.

“So it was not a surprise to me that they went there on Tuesday and won. They will fancy their chances here and will be definitely revved up.

“We had a cracking game with them here last year (the U’s won 2-1). We had a very inexperienced side and it was a tight game.

“We had the disappointment of conceding the last-minute equaliser and then Tom (Craddock) going up the other end to score.

“It was a real good game for us and, while I get on well with Micky, they will be eyeing us up.

“They are in a decent position like ourselves and it’s tight up there.

“It’s the toughest game of the season for us, in terms of the experience and the ability they have got.”

Adams said: “It will be a tough game because Oxford have good players and have strengthened.

“They have a terrific young manager in Chris Wilder.

“When there’s talk about young managers being promoted up to the Premier League and the Championship levels, then I think clubs should be looking at Chris.

“Forget his team, if Oxford’s board of directors looked at their assets I would hope that they would recognise he is their No 1 asset.

“That’s how highly I rate him, but because he does his job in a quiet and proficient manner he can sometimes fall by the wayside when jobs are talked about.

“But one thing I know about Oxford with Chris in charge is they will be fit and organised.”