Last minute choker

For the second successive time United went down to a last minute goal at Glanford Park. Last time it was Guy Ipoua who did the damage, today Lee Hodges scored the vital goal to leave United without a win away from home since Ian Atkins took charge. Indeed, United have never even held an away lead during that time.

United made four changes from the side that lost at Rushden last Tuesday, two of them enforced with Dean Whitehead replacing Robert Quinn and Phil Gray coming in for Paul Moody, who injured himself at home during the night. The other changes saw loanee 'keeper Andy Woodman coming back to displace Richard Knight, and Jon Richardson recalled to right back, allowing Dave Morley to push up into midfield and Sam Stockley drop to the bench. United made three late substitutions, with Chris Hackett replacing Manny Omoyinmi fifteen minutes from time, Andy Scott coming on for Gray with six minutes to go, and Sam Ricketts replaced the injured Paul Powell with just a minute left.

The referee, H Webb, saw fit to show a yellow card to captain Andy Crosby, which was pleasant of him. The attendance was 3,504, fairly crap for a team challenging for the play-offs, and a match report can be found here.

United drop one place to 16th as a result of this latest defeat. Bristol Rovers jumping above the Us thanks to their 2-0 win over bottom of the table Halifax. Scunthorpe have gone up to sixth, leapfrogging Shrewsbury who drew 3-3 at Darlington, and Rushden who lost 2-1 at Hull. Plymouth extended their lead at the top to ten points following their 1-0 win over Mansfield, coupled with Luton's 1-0 defeat at Rochdale. United's next opponents, Lincoln City, moved up to 17th (below United only on goal difference) after their 1-0 win over Macclesfield.

Former United players who found the net today included Dean Windass scoring Middlesbrough's second equaliser in the 2-2 draw against Leeds United at the Riverside and Derek Lilley scoring the only equaliser for Dundee United in the 1-1 draw at Livingston. Nick Cusack scored the opening goal as Swansea drew 2-2 at Leyton Orient and Mark Stein scored the winner as Dagenham & Redbridge came from behind to defeat Farnborough 2-1.