BOSS Chris Wilder believes Ryan Clarke is the best goalkeeper in League Two.

The Oxford United stopper has been in fine form of late, and showed another safe pair of hands on Saturday as the U’s beat Hereford 1-0 to climb to sixth in the table.

The win was United’s third successive away success, all of which have come with clean sheets.

And Wilder says he knows that at times his keeper does not get enough praise for his displays – especially from the manager himself.

“He will possibly like hearing this because I don’t give the goalkeeper much credit,” Wilder admitted.

“I’m a bit of a goalkeeper basher and he always seems to think that I am picking on him.

“But I have to say that I’ve not seen a better goalkeeper in this league for the last two seasons and yet again, he was safe and sound today.

“I just hope that I am not putting the mockers on him for next Saturday, but when they did have a chance to put it in the box and create an opportunity, he was there for us.”

Wilder was delighted with his side’s victory, which sees the U’s move to three points off top spot after a professional performance in sweltering heat.

“We played some decent stuff at times in what were unbelievable conditions for October,” he said.

“I’m a bit disappointed that we didn’t give ourselves a clearer winning advantage and made the last 15-20 minutes a little bit easier.

“But I thought we handled it well when things got chucked at us late on and always looked a threat going forward.

“We’ve got to go on again now and see if we can sort our home form out.”