GARY Waddock says Oxford United will be fired up to spoil Scunthorpe United’s promotion party this afternoon.

An expectant Glanford Park crowd will be looking to see the Sky Bet League Two leaders clinch promotion back to League One at the first attempt.

Victory this afternoon, coupled with Fleetwood failing to beat Wycombe, would confirm a top-three finish with two games remaining.

Scunthorpe go into the game on the back of an extraordinary 27-game unbeaten run, but Waddock is aiming to dampen the mood.

The U’s head coach said: “If it is a party atmosphere for them, let’s go and spoil it.

“We’re not going to go up there and make it easy for them. We’ll make it as difficult as we can.

“With the run they are on, they are playing with a lot of confidence.

“They’ve had setbacks during that run, but they know they can get back into games, and confidence will be very high, not only among the players but also the supporters.

“We know how difficult that’s going to be.

“They will expect to win, but we can use that to motivate ourselves.”

While Scunthorpe are on the verge of promotion, United’s fate is not in their own hands after losing 1-0 to play-off rivals York City on Good Friday.

It saw them drop two points adrift of the top seven and, if results went against them today, their promotion hopes will be hanging by a thread.

But Waddock, whose side won 2-0 at Plymouth Argyle last weekend, does not believe it is a case of win or bust just yet.

“It was out of our hands last week as well and we clawed our way back into it,” he said.

“If we can do that again then great, but as I’ve always said, it will only count come the end of that Northampton game (on the final day).

He added: “There’s a determined bunch of players here and they want to achieve something.

“They had a good early part of the season and it’s been a bit disappointing for them recently, but they can put on performances, as we’ve seen recently against Plymouth.”