Centre back Jake Wright says Oxford United’s defence will need to stick tight to Adam Le Fondre to stop him punishing them again.

The division’s 18-goal top scorer, Le Fondre scored both goals when Rotherham beat Oxford 2-1 earlier in the season.

He’s a player who seems to come alive in the box and has been watched by a posse of scouts.

“We’ve got to stick tight to him,” said Wright.

“We’re going to do our work on him today and tomorrow, on what his strengths and weaknesses are, and hopefully we can put them into practice on Saturday, and make sure we keep a clean sheet.”

United achieved their first shut-out in 24 games at Gillingham last Saturday and understandably want to build on that.

“I thought we defended really well at Gillingham,” Wright said. “But i think we’ve been defending well as a whole, it’s just about cutting out individual mistakes.

“So we’ll just carry on and if we play with that same confidence, I’m sure we’ll be OK on Saturday.”

Not that confidence has been lacking, in defence or attack.

“I think we’re a confident side anyway, it’s just been the odd mistake, or unlucky deflection, like against Shrewsbury.”

Gillingham showed what a strong side they are by beating Rotherham 3-1 in midweek, and United also had to contend with very testing conditions for their game in Kent.

“The wind was horrible,” Wright admitted. “You’ve got to be careful and make sure you don’t make mistakes.

“And if you do, you have to cover each other because there are times when you’re misjudging the ball as the wind is taking it at the last minute.

“We couldn’t play football because the pitch was so bobbly, but it’s the same for both teams, so you’ve got to get on with it.”

U’s boss Chris Wilder said: “That’s what I was delighted with at Gillingham . . . it wasn’t a pleasing performance on the eye but, as Rotherham showed, it’s a difficult place to go.

“But defensively we showed we were right. The two centre halves did what they do best, in terms of wrapping up Akinfenwa and McDonald, who are a decent pair, and they’ll have to do the same on Saturday.”