Oxford United secured a much-needed three points this evening, with a vastly improved display against a physical, occasionally brutish, Salisbury City.[@news]2189[/@news][@opponent]Salisbury City[/@opponent] While some may look at the result and claim that the scoreline just papers over some of the cracks at the club, in fact this was a decent display of attacking football for much of the game, of the sort that many fans have been crying out for. It makes such a difference having the wing backs playing as midfielders rather than defenders, and this put United on the front foot from the off.

United took the lead after 19 minutes, having played practically the whole game in the Salisbury half up until then. Rob Duffy played a perfect ball through to Yemi Odubade, who showed uncharacteristic composure to shoot left-footed past Ryan Clarke. Oxford continued to press, but were almost caught out on a couple of occasions. The first required Billy Turley to hurtle out of goal to head clear, and the second saw Matt Tubbs shoot into the side netting when he should have scored. The half ended when Yemi rolled the ball into the path of the onrushing Eddie Odhiambo-Anaclet, but his first-time shot was too close to Clarke.

Ten minutes into the second period and Salisbury equalised against the run of play, when United's defence failed to deal with a long throw-in, allowing Aaron Cook to swivel and score, and then get booked for goading the Oxford supporters. United started to look a bit flat, and just as the supporters were beginning to wonder where a goal might come from, Yemi flicked the ball on for Duffy to take into the box, only for Clarke to flatten him and concede a penalty. Duffy calmly converted the spot kick after a lengthy delay, involving the Salisbury assistant manager being sent from the technical area for kicking the ball hard at Matt Day, and then the referee deciding to respot the ball. The remaining 15 minutes, plus five more of added time, were a tense affair, as United hung onto the lead. Right at the death Daniel Clay scythed into Alex Jeannin as he held the ball by the visitors' corner flag, right in front of the referee, who showed him a straight red card.

Jim Smith made two changes to the side that lost at Histon on Thursday. Michael Corcoran was recalled to the defence in place of the injured Arthur Gnohere (although one would like to believe that the same change would have been made anyway), while Rob Duffy started up front in place of Marvin Robinson, who was loaned out to Cambridge United for three months. Shaw went off after 21 minutes, nursing a sore groin, to be replaced by Danny Rose. United played a 3-4-1-2 formation, with Shaw (and then Rose) just behind Duffy and Yemi. And this really was a midfield four, rather than a defensive five, and it worked.

Tonight's referee was Nick Kinsley who, considering the volatile nature of much of the game, didn't actually do too much wrong. He was possibly guilty of falling for the occasional dive, or for blowing his whistle too readily at other times, but he generally kept the lid on a game that sometimes threatened to boil over. He did show Duffy a yellow card, though. The attendance was a measly 4,231, of whom 373 came from the other side of Swindon. This has the dubious distinction of being United's lowest gate for a league game since they were relegated from the Football League; in fact it was the lowest gate since the 2-0 defeat by Darlington on 21 January 2006.

The win sees United climb up two places to eighth in the table, while Salisbury stay sixth, two points ahead of the Us. Torquay have retaken the leadership of the Conference thanks to their 3-2 win over Weymouth, with Chris Zebroski scoring their opener. Aldershot dropped to second after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Cambridge United, who climb to third place, despite having substitute Marvin Robinson sent off for two bookings on his debut. Stevenage Borough's 4-2 defeat at Forest Green Rovers means that they drop to fourth place, with Rovers going tenth. Burton Albion stay fifth, despite winning 2-0 at second-bottom Droylsden. Exeter City are seventh after being held to a 1-1 draw at Woking.

Stafford Rangers remained third from bottom after coming from behind to draw 1-1 with Histon. Ebbsfleet United beat Crawley Town 1-0, while Rushden & Diamonds drew 1-1 with Grays Athletic.