Oxford United 2 Histon 0

Chris Wilder fielded an unchanged line-up as the Us looked to bounce back from Tuesday's cruel defeat at Luton Town and he was rewarded with a well-deserved 2-0 win over an unimpressive Histon side. Sam Deering scored his first goal since breaking his leg at Salisbury City on Boxing Day 2008 in Wilder's first game as manager, and his first goal at home, in the second minute of the second half as his well-drilled free-kick was missed by everyone, including Stutes 'keeper Danny Naisbitt. Substitute Matt Green, on for the injured Alfie Potter, made sure of the points in the final minute of normal time after being set up by former Stute Jack Midson, who took advantage of some hesitant defending by Matthew Langston to race clear at Naisbitt, unselfishly squaring the ball to Green as the goalie advanced.

United certainly looked up for the game as they absolutely battered the visitors, and it was only a combination of poor finishing, resolute defending, and sheer bad luck that the scoreline was goalless at half-time. With quarter of an hour gone, Simon Clist burst clear and sent an inviting cross across the face of the goal that was just too far ahead of both Deering and Dannie Bulman. Five minutes later United ought to have taken the lead after a superb chip from Midson set Potter free; with just Naisbitt to beat the winger inexplicably put the ball wide of the already committed 'keeper and his right-hand post. Just three minutes later Deering had a one-on-one with Naisbitt after Anthony Tonkin played him in, but the goalie somehow got a touch to deflect the ball wide as Deering shot underneath his dive. Histon then had a glorious opportunity to take the lead against the run of play as Rhys Day played a criminally under-hit back-pass to Ryan Clarke allowing Danny Wright to steal in, but the striker's first-time shot went wide and over when he should have done better. United then had two penalty shouts denied within a minute as first a Histon defender handled as Midson tried to control the ball, and then Potter was bundled over inside the area. Five minutes before half-time Potter latched onto a Midson flick and raced towards goal, only to be upended on the edge of the area by Adam Bygrave. The referee showed Bygrave a red card for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity, although given Potter's previous miss that is perhaps debatable. Deering then shot inches wide after an excellent turn on the edge of the area, but at half-time the crowd was wondering if the Us would regret missing all those chances.

The second half was only a minute and a bit old when Deering was cynically taken out on the edge of the area by Nathaniel Knight-Percival. Deering took the kick himself and displayed his obvious delight as the ball drifted into the far corner of the net. United continued to press, with Naisbitt grabbing a Rhys Day header on the line and Potter seeing a long-range drive deflected for a corner. With 15 minutes remaining a powerful free-kick by Damian Batt struck the Histon post and bounced so far back onto the pitch that it almost set up a counter-attack. With ten minutes to go Potter pulled up as he chased a ball down the left wing, but as Matt Green was about to come on to replace him anyway his departure failed to disrupt United's plans. Oxford were still looking to kill off the game to prevent nerves from presenting Histon with an unlikely point, but it didn't come until the 89th minute, when Midson's vision and selflessness set up Green to settle the game.

Today's referee was A Bennett, who had such a poor game when officiating in United's 2-1 win over Stevenage Borough back in August. He again failed to cover himself in glory, although he probably got most of the big decisions correct. He booked Bulman for a late challenge, the kind that he had allowed a number of Histon players to get away with, but he also showed four yellows to the visitors in addition to Bygraves' red. The attendance was 5,365 but when you consider that only 29 of those were from Histon, the lowest away following for a competitive game at the Kas, and probably for any United first-team match, it's probably not as bad as it seems.

Today's results are of the kind that could be construed as season-defining. The win took United back to the top of the Conference, above Stevenage on goal difference after Borough were beaten 1-0 at Rushden & Diamonds, who are fourth. We have former U Rob Wolleaston to thank for the winner, scored two minutes from time. The bad news is that Rushden are United's next opponents when they visit the Kas on Tuesday. To cap off a good day, third-placed York City's excellent unbeaten run came to a crashing halt at 18th-placed Ebbsfleet United, where they lost 1-0 and had striker Richard Brodie sent off. Luton Town remain fifth after winning 1-0 at sixth-bottom Eastbourne Borough.

Sixth-placed Mansfield Town maintained their challenge for a play-off place with a 4-2 win at Tamworth; Rob Duffy opened the scoring for the Stags. Kettering Town are just behind Mansfield, in seventh place, after winning 2-0 at fifth-bottom Barrow, Marcus Kelly scoring the opener with his first goal for the Poppies, while AFC Wimbledon dropped to eighth place after being held to a 2-2 draw at lowly ten-man Cambridge United. Second-bottom Grays Athletic were beaten 2-0 at home by Salisbury City, while third-bottom Gateshead went down 3-2 at Hayes & Yeading, for whom Steve Basham scored the winning penalty. Fourth-bottom Forest Green Rovers lost 2-1 at Kidderminster Harriers, while Crawley Town beat Altrincham 1-0. [@news]2656[/@news][@opponent]histon[/@opponent]