Oxford United 3 Crawley Town 1

Oxford eventually put a stubborn Crawley side to the sword, but it was hard work at first and United seemed to have to play against the officials as much as their opponents. United started the brighter, moving the ball around well and playing with purpose. In the 21st minute United won a free kick about seven yards outside the Crawley penalty area. The kick was taken by Adam Chapman and struck the raised arm of a Crawley defender. Despite the offence clearly occurring in the penalty area the referee awarded Oxford a second free kick on the edge of the box. Up stepped Chapman again to smash the ball into the net for his first goal of the season.

United held the lead for just seven minutes. A long punt from the Crawley defence saw Mark Creighton and Jefferson Louis chase the ball towards the Oxford goal. Louis had an armful of Creighton's shirt and he tugged the giant defender to the ground. Having your shirt pulled is now obviously a bookable offence, as the referee awarded Crawley the free kick and showed Creighton the yellow card. Louis took the kick and the ball took a wicked deflection off the wall to wrong-foot Ryan Clarke and end up in the back of the Oxford goal. United had chances to retake the lead before half-time, most notably when a flowing attacking move ended with James Constable firing just wide of the far post.

The second half started very openly, with Constable having a shot blocked and moments later Louis sprinting away and shooting against the crossbar. As United turned the screw Crawley's play got even more petty and niggly. Goalkeeper Simon Rayner was booked for delaying a goal kick less than halfway through the second half, and he was properly punished when on-loan Steven Kinniburgh scored one of the best goals this season, driving forward and then coolly chipping Rayner from 25 yards. Kinniburgh then embarked on a weaving run before setting up Jack Midson, who went close. With Adam Murray, Simon Clist, and ex-Crawley player Dannie Bulman bossing the midfield, United's chances came thick and fast, with Green, Constable, and Midson all going close. With six minutes left Ross Perry played in Green, who jinked past a couple of defenders before shooting low across Rayner. The goalkeeper couldn't hold the ball and Midson nipped in to tuck it away and wrap up the game. This was a fine United performance, marred by some poor officiating and desperate opposition, although in the end that just made the victory all the sweeter. The first two goals were scored by the two fullbacks, which must be a statistically rare occurrence.

As predicted, Chris Wilder opted to play Chapman in place of the suspended Damien Batt, and Midson for Jamie Cook, absent due to a gentleman's agreement with his former, ungentlemanly, club. The first substitution didn't occur until nine minutes from time, when Perry came on for Chapman. With four minutes to go Kevin Sandwith replaced Green, and in stoppage time Midson was replaced by Aaron Woodley, making his Oxford debut. Woodley isn't 17 until 13 October, making him the fifth-youngest player to play for the club since it joined the Football League in 1962 (and we're well aware that we're no longer in the League, thankyouverymuch).

Tonight's hapless official was Robert Madley, taking charge of his first, and hopefully last, Oxford game. In addition to wrongly awarding a free kick instead of a penalty for United's first goal, and cocking up the foul on Creighton by Louis for Crawley's equaliser, he also made a number of other incorrect, or just bizarre, decisions, including missing a second blatant handball in the Crawley penalty area. He showed a yellow card to Clist for some reason, in addition to booking Creighton for having his shirt pulled. The attendance was a reasonably healthy 5,675, especially good considering Crawley could muster just 54 followers.

The win keeps Oxford eight points clear of Kettering Town, who came from a goal down to win 2-1 at second-bottom Hayes & Yeading. Crawley have dropped to 11th. Stevenage Borough stay third after they won 1-0 at eighth-placed Luton Town, while AFC Wimbledon have climbed to fourth after winning 1-0 at Rushden & Diamonds. Mansfield Town have dropped to fifth place following their 3-1 defeat at Oxford's next opponents, Barrow, who are 17th. York City in sixth place and Tamworth in seventh were both without a game tonight.

Bottom of the table Chester City went down 2-1 at home to Forest Green Rovers. Third-bottom Ebbsfleet United were beaten 2-1 at home by 18th-placed Salisbury City, with Paul McCarthy scoring Ebbsfleet's goal deep into stoppage time. Fourth-bottom Gateshead were 2-1 up at Altrincham, but conceded two goals in the fourth and seventh minutes of stoppage time to lose 3-2. Grays Athletic are fifth from bottom after beating Cambridge United 2-0, while there were also 2-0 wins for Histon over Eastbourne Borough and Kidderminster Harriers over Wrexham, who drew 0-0 with Chester City on Sunday. [@news]2568[/@news][@opponent]crawley town[/@opponent]