With Oxford United unbeaten at home before today, and Boston on a run of four consecutive wins, something had to give. In the end it was Oxford's home record that survived, more due to a lack of ambition by their opponents than anything else. The game ended goalless, but that outcome appeared reasonably certain after the first few minutes, with neither team having the guile nor the spirit to to break the deadlock. The first shot on goal only occured after half an hour of the game, with the first shot on target several minutes later, both by Boston. In the second period United came into the game more, but still found it difficult to get past Boston's giant defence, and lacked the imagination to try a different approach. The final twenty minutes was characterised by some of the most blatant time-wasting imaginable by the Boston side, but inept officials allowed them to get away with it. With Boston camped in the Oxford half for most of the final five minutes, United never looked likely to get the much-needed win, although one would have expected more from Boston, who never wanted to extend their winning run.

Brian Talbot made several changes from the side that beat Brentford in the crap cup in midweek, most of them expected. Billy Turley returned between the sticks in place of Chris Tardif, and Jon Ashton came back into the defence at the expense of Jude Stirling. Lee Mansell was recalled to the midfield, with Rob Hughes unavailable through injury, and Eric Sabin came back into the front line with Craig Davies dropping to bench. With half an hour remaining Davies came on for Steve Basham to add some pace to the attack, and his arrival almost brought dividends for the Us, but not quite.

The so-called referee today was R Booth, whose previous games involving Oxford also ended all square, 1-1 at Grimsby last December, and 0-0 against Rushden towards the start of last season. He and his assistants gave a display of mind-bending ineptitude, although Matt Robinson's yellow card was probably justified. Today's attendance was 5,084, with only a paltry 213 from Lincolnshire, despite Boston now having gone ten games unbeaten. We hope to publish a match report tomorrow, if we can think of anything to write about.

The point gained by United today leaves them in 7th place, but the gap between Oxford and third place is now five points. Boston are 11th. Wycombe have gone top of the fourth division after winning 2-1 at Lincoln, now 7th from bottom, while United's next opponents, Leyton Orient, won 1-0 at Grimsby to go second, and knock the Mariners down to third. Rochdale are 4th after losing 3-1 at tenth-placed Peterborough, with Chester fifth after they were held to a 1-1 draw by 16th-placed Bury. Northampton remain sixth despite losing 4-2 at sixth-bottom Stockport.

Macclesfield's 1-1 draw at Torquay has left the two sides occupying the two relegation spots, with Mansfield climbing to third bottom after they beat Barnet 4-0, to leave the Bees one place above them. Rushden are 5th from bottom after beating Shrewsbury, now 15th, 3-0. Two goals by Richard Walker in the last three minutes gave Bristol Rovers a 2-1 home win over Wrexham, while Darlington beat Cheltenham 3-1.