Peter Leven is committed to playing through the pain in a bid to boost Oxford United’s promotion chan-ces.

There were fears earlier this month a shoulder injury would rule the Scot out for the rest of the season.

But after a fortnight’s rest, the 28-year-old returned for the U’s on Saturday, setting up the opening goal with a typically incisive through ball in a 2-1 win against Rotherham United.

Leven is still likely to need an operation to correct the problem permanently, but is in no mood to sit on the sidelines during a vital few weeks for the club.

“I’m the kind of player who doesn’t think they’re injured,” he said.

“If it happens, it happens, and if it hurts, then so be it, I’ll just try and deal with it.

“We started the season looking to be in the play-offs or getting automatic promotion and nobody wants to miss the last ten games when you’ve got a chance of playing at Wembley or getting in the top three.

“I felt alright on Saturday, just a little bit sore after the game once the painkillers wore off, but in general it feels good.

“I had two or three weeks’ rest and it’s settled down a little bit, but I’m just taking every day as it comes.”

The problem began on Boxing Day away to AFC Wimbledon, tonight’s visitors to the Kassam Stadium.

Leven does not remember how he did the damage, but it quickly became clear it was more serious than a dead arm.

For the moment he is focused on contributing to United’s challenge in npower League Two and wants the team to pick up tonight where they left off against Rotherham.

He said: “We played well. We needed the third goal didn’t we, but we’re Oxford and we don’t do things easy!

“We’ve just got to go in with the mental state that we want to win every game, not that we have to win.

“Hopefully, we’ll take Saturday’s performance and confidence into Tuesday.”