Chris Wilder was all smiles after seeing the hard work on Oxford United’s training ground reap rewards at the Kassam Stadium on Tuesday night.

The important thing was picking up the first three points of the season with a 2-0 win over Shrewsbury, but the added bonus was the manner of the victory.

The U’s produced a display of authority, with a stunning strike from Simon Heslop and first goal from Lewis Guy earning a fully deserved home win.

And it was the finer points of the victory that delighted the United boss.

“We have beaten a very good side tonight,” he said afterwards.

“It wasn’t all our own way, but we made some good decisions, and if you make good decisions, you will do well.

“We had to be patient, and I think we were just that.

“The amount of ball we had means that, at times, we will give it away, but we kept going right until the end.

“Some of our play was first-class and I think that we showed tonight exactly what we are capable of.”

And the goals were both excellent in different ways.

“We have worked hard on getting Simon Heslop and Asa Hall behind their midfield two, and we did that,” Wilder added.

“It was a great strike – we know he is capable of that.

“And for the other, Beano (James Constable) has done great because when the first ball didn’t work, he kept it simple and I was delighted to see Lewis Guy put it in.

“Lewis is a livewire. He linked the play up great and took his goal well.

“The one criticism levelled at him is that he doesn’t score enough goals for his all-round play, but he has been playing one and even two divisions above this, so this will do him the power of good.”

And now, it’s all systems go for Sunday’s derby with Swindon, who lost at Dagenham last night and are now below the U’s in the table.

“We have got a little game now to look forward to, haven’t we,” Wilder joked.

“It was be a cracking atmosphere, we will go there and try and play.

“We all know what it means to people. We go there needing to be passionate, but in the right way.”