Burton Albion 0 Oxford United 1

Sour grapes from Burton manager Roy McFarland only added to the sense of satisfaction emanating from the Pirelli Stadium tonight as Oxford won there for the third successive season. Burton needed to avoid defeat to clinch promotion to the Football League, while United needed the three points to keep their faint play-off hopes alive.

The first half was a bit of an entertainment-free zone as Oxford defended against the inevitable Burton onslaught. Each side manufactured just one shot, with Billy Turley saving well from Keith Gilroy and at the other end Lewis Haldane shot straight at Saul Deeney.

With Oxford needing the win the second half was more open, but it was United who went closest to scoring as a shot on the turn from James Constable brought a fingertip save from Deeney. Turley then made a flying save from a shot by Marc Goodfellow, and when Darren Stride crossed the ball from the rebound Lee Morris could only sidefoot wide of an open goal. The home side continued to mount the pressure, and Turley had to block a John McGrath shot. With 20 minutes to go Tony James held down Constable and from the free kick, 25 yards out, Adam Chapman shot through the wall and into the net. Oh yes. This left 20 minutes of nervous tension for United supporters, but until Chris Willmott was sent off for bringing down Shaun Harrad the Us rarely looked under pressure. After that it was constant defence, apart from a couple of occasions when Yemi Odubade and Constable got clear, and Burton had corner after corner, none of which unduly troubled the Oxford defence apart from in the very end of the five minutes of stoppage time, when Harrad was sent off following a mel