Deane Smalley has the taste for scoring goals that fire teams to promotion.

And he is confident that he can do the same for Oxford next season as he did for Chesterfield this year.

The 22-year-old joined United on Friday after turning down a new contract offer at Oldham.

Smalley hit 12 goals in 29 appearances while on loan at Chesterfield last season, helping them land the League Two crown.

And he says from what he has seen at Oxford, the ambition of the club, the players they are signing – as well as already have – and the fan base, he is confident that they can be challenging for promotion next season.

“Once you get the taste of it, you want more,” he said when asked about picking up his winner’s medal with Chesterfield.

“It was a great feeling to win the league, knowing you had played a big part in that.

“But I see no reason at all why Oxford can’t be up there next season.

“They are a club on the up, have an ambitious manager and chairman and can go places.

“When I played against Oxford for Chesterfield last season, there were thousands of fans here and they didn’t stop signing and cheering Oxford on.

“With that level of support, the players they already have here as well as the new signings, we can be right up there.”

And Smalley hopes that his impressive goal return last season can be bettered in the next campaign.

“I scored 12 goals in just over half a season,” he said.

“With hopefully a full season, I will get even more.”

Boss Chris Wilder is hoping that Smalley can be his side’s missing piece of the jigsaw in attack.

“We have always said that we were probably ten or 15 goals short last season,” he said.

“Everyone was complementing us on our play and the chances we created, but we needed that person to put them away, and we are very hopeful that Deane can do that next season.”