Barrow 3 Oxford United 0

Oxford United's miserable experience of Setanta TV continued last night, when they went down 3-0 at Holker Street to an energetic Barrow. This was the ninth occasion that United have appeared live on Setanta, and they have yet to win. The game hinged on the decision by the referee to send off James Clarke for a two-footed lunge six minutes before half-time. Clarke made contact with the ball, but also injured Barrow's new winger Carlos Logan with the tackle, and the referee interpreted the challenge as reckless and showed Clarke a straight red card.

The game had started fairly evenly, but midway through the first half Barrow started to gain the upper hand. Andy Bond headed just over from a Logan cross, although he should have scored from just six yards, and just after the half hour Bond drove a 25-yard shot against the bar. At the other end, a Lewis Haldane shot had to be pushed around the post by Tim Deasy, but it was probably going wide anyway.

Despite the hindrance of being a man short, United started the second half more strongly than the hosts and went close on a couple of occasions. First, a long-range shot from Haldane was tipped over by Deasy, and then Chris Carruthers saw his 20-yard effort go just past the outside of the post. However, with just 19 minutes to go Barrow took the lead after Yemi Odubade was adjudged to committed a foul 35 yards from goal. Expecting a cross, debutant goalkeeper Ben Hinchliffe positioned himself accordingly, but instead Mark Boyd drove the ball in off the post. After this, United collapsed, and just five minutes later Matt Henny beat Chris Willmott to the ball and fell over Hinchliffe as the goalkeeper came out to narrow the angle. A penalty was awarded and Steve McNulty stepped up to drive the ball over the diving Hinchliffe. A further six minutes elapsed before Barrow extended their lead and ended the game as any sort of contest, as Paul Barrow smashed the ball past Hinchliffe.

Darren Patterson's first line-up of the new season was disrupted by injuries to goalkeeper Billy Turley, still recovering from a shoulder operation in the summer, to Phil Trainer, who broke his foot in an early training session, and to new striker Jamie Guy, who damaged his hamstring in the friendly against Portsmouth on Monday. Hinchliffe, who had impressed in pre-season games, was preferred in goal to on-loan QPR keeper Jake Cole. Clarke was chosen over Matt Day at right back, with Barry Quinn and Luke Foster in central defence and Carruthers making his debut at left back. Guy's injury led to Yemi being chosen to partner new signing James Constable up front, leaving another debutant, Rob Davies, playing wide right. Adam Murray played his first competitive game as captain in the centre of midfield, alongside Joe Burnell, also playing his first Oxford game. Haldane, on the left wing, was the sixth player making his first start for the Us. At half time Davies was withdrawn, with Willmott going into the centre of defence and Quinn covering the right back position. Patto then made a double substitution after United conceded the third goal, with two more debutants entering the fray. Michael Husbands came on for Yemi, and went up front alongside Constable, while Levi Reid took Haldane's place on the wing.

Last night's referee was P Quinn who, in addition to sending off Clarke, showed yellow cards to three Oxford players: Yemi for the foul that led to the first goal, Hinchliffe for the penalty incident, and Constable for dissent. The attendance for Barrow's first game in the Conference for ten seasons was 2,790.[@news]2344[/@news][@opponent]barrow[/@opponent]