United were beaten 2-1 at Halifax this evening in their FA Trophy second round replay, to give the Shaymen a third round home tie against Redditch United.[@opponent]Halifax Town[/@opponent] Oxford conceded a goal three minutes before half time, with New Zealand international Shane Smeltz pouncing to score with a rebound after Billy Turley had saved from Danny Forrest. Prior to this Turley had to be alert to save from Neal Trotman in the sixth minute, but United could have taken the lead themselves when Rob Duffy blasted over when put through by Yemi Odubade in the 18th minute.

There was a storming start to the second half, with Halifax's Nathan Joynes hitting the post almost immediately, and four minutes after the break the Shaymen went 2-0 up when Joynes curled in a shot from 25 yards to beat Turley. However, United had the best possible response just a minute later, when Duffy headed home a Yemi cross to reduce the arrears and set up a storming cup tie. Yemi found himself clean through on 61 minutes, but he was unable to round Craig Mawson, who also saved well from Carl Pettefer four minutes later. Then it was Oxford's turn to defend, with Georges Santos clearing off the line from Forrest as Halifax broke clear, but Santos turned from hero to almost villain after a poor pass again let Forrest in, but Turley came to the rescue. Mawson then made three saves in as many minutes as United searched for the equaliser, as Billy Beechers, Duffy, and Yemi all tried their luck. Alas, it was not to be, and the Us can now concentrate on their main priority, promotion back to the Football League.

As suspected, Jim Smith made a couple of changes from the side that drew with the Shaymen on Saturday[@news]2045[/@news], with Rufus Brevett replacing Matt Day in defence, and Chris Hargreaves coming into the side instead of Gavin Johnson. However, Smith kept the same 4-3-3 formation, which is certainly a bold one for an away game. Just after the hour mark, though, Marvin Robinson, who was clearly feeling the pace after playing around two and a half games in eight days after being out injured for four months, was taken off with Day coming on in his stead. This led to a change to 4-4-2, and coincided with United becoming more effective. This lasted until quarter of an hour from time, when Pettefer was replaced by Beechers.

Tonight's referee, Andy Halliday, was a busy chappy, especially in the second half. He showed his yellow card to Eddie Anaclet, Santos, Brevett, and Hargreaves, all for fouls. The attendance was just 1,330, with however many Oxford supporters making themselves heard. No match report, as per usual.