Rushden & Diamonds 1 Oxford United 3

United's march towards just missing out on the play-offs continued tonight, with a nervy 3-1 win at Nene Park, a ground where United have only won once before and where Rushden & Diamonds have triumphed in the last three meetings. Yet again, United had on-loan striker James Constable to thank for the three points as the bean-headed forward scored two and created the third for Simon Clist.

United found themselves weathering a storm for much of the first quarter of the game, as Rushden looked to continue their own good form, with former-U Andy Burgess pulling the strings in midfield. However, for all their possession the home side failed to create much in the way of clear-cut chances and in the 26th minute Oxford took the lead. Chris Carruthers exchanged passes with Craig Nelthorpe and then fed Constable. A challenge came in from another ex-U, Mickey Corcoran, but Corkers missed the ball, allowing Constable to swivel and fire United ahead. Almost immediately afterwards he chased down the ball as Dale Roberts tried to clear and forced a goal kick. Luke Foster also had a decent header go narrowly over as United saw out the first half with their lead intact.

As in the first half, the second half started with Rushden dominating proceedings. Lee Tomlin shot over when he was well placed, Billy Turley fumbled a shot from Marcus Kelly over the bar, and then the keeper saved a Michael Rankine shot to keep the Diamonds out. Just before the hour the village team got the goal they probably deserved, and it was another former United player, Rob Wolleaston, who was to blame. Tomlin set Wolly away and he chipped the on-rushing Turley for the ball to drop into the net just ahead of Luke Foster, running back to cover but who only succeeded in injuring himself as he tried unsuccessfully to hook the ball away. A stand-up row between Damien Batt and Adam Chapman ensued about who should have been covering Wolleaston's run (Chapman). However, just over ten minutes later Constable restored United's lead when he turned Chris Hope in the penalty area and the hopeless Hope hauled down the United player. Constable dusted himself down and blasted the penalty kick high into the net. Again United had to dig deep to maintain their lead, and as the game drew to a close Constable held off the defenders and laid the ball off to Clist, who ran through to sidefoot home and make the game safe. If United keep up this form, such a dramatic difference on the road to the first half of the season, then even hard-bitten old cynics like myself might start to get carried away with play-off fever, although it shouldn't be forgotten that United have played several games more than their rivals. Still, it will make Saturday's game at Stevenage Borough mildly interesting.

Chris Wilder, who is rapidly gaining hero status among the United faithful, made three changes to the team that won at Kettering Town just five days ago. The one change that was enforced was the return of Carruthers to the left-back spot in place of Kevin Sandwith, who was suspended after receiving two yellow cards at Rockingham Road. Yemi Odubade came back into the starting line-up, with Lewis Haldane rested, and Adam Murray started, having recovered from his foot injury, in place of Craig Farrell. The first substitution was made just after United went 2-1 up, with Haldane coming on for Yemi. With ten minutes remaining Murray made way for Eddie Hutchinson, and in stoppage time Constable left the field to a standing ovation, Farrell his replacement.

Tonight's referee was Ian Smedley, who was the chap in charge of United's 5-1 win over Ebbsfleet United in Chris Wilder's second game in charge. He had a strange game, mostly crap but with a few decent moments. He did book Foster, but then doesn't everybody? The attendance was a not particularly brilliant 2,085, but the away attendance was a particularly brilliant 982. There'll probably be one or two more than that at Broadhall Way on Saturday.

Surprisingly, other results in the Conference this evening were reasonably favourable for United, from a play-off challenge point of view. The win lifted United above Crawley Town into 7th place, two points behind fifth-placed Kidderminster Harriers, who have played three games fewer than the Yellows. Rushden remain rooted in mid-table obscurity 11 points behind. Oxford are now just one point behind sixth-placed Stevenage, who drew 0-0 at fourth-placed Histon, while Torquay United were rather surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw at home by Grays Athletic, a result that had the unintended side-effect of ensuring that Lewes will once more be playing Conference South football next season. It also lifted Grays out of the relegation zone and up to fifth from bottom, at the expense of Ebbsfleet who were beaten 1-0 at Salisbury City. Tonight's other game saw Kettering Town drop two points in a 0-0 draw at York City. Although the point they did gain lifted them to eighth, also going above Crawley, they're unlikely to be happy with only the one point, which lifted York to 18th, leaving them, Grays, and Barrow all just one point above Ebbsfleet. [@news]2478[/@news][@opponent]rushden & diamonds[/@opponent]