Oxford United 0 Cambridge United 0

If this performance is indicative of how Oxford are going to play in the play-offs, then there could be trouble ahead. In the second half especially, United lost their ability to pass the ball, their intuition in front of goal, their determination to attack the second ball, and their creativity and flair. United may have dominated possession, but Simon Brown will rarely have had a quieter second half, and it was the visitors who twice hit the woodwork.

Chris Wilder made three changes to the side that won 1-0 at Altrincham on Saturday. With former Cambridge left-back Anthony Tonkin getting a knock in training, Kevin Sandwith replaced him at the back. In midfield fit-again Simon Clist started in place of Sam Deering, while the pace of Matt Green was preferred to the presence of Jack Midson in attack. Just after the hour Deering came on for Clist, who had had a steady game without really asserting himself, and with 20 minutes to go Matt Green was replaced by Midson.

After a fairly dour start United had the first real effort when Adam Chapman shot from distance, but his drive was deflected wide. Five minutes later United had a scare when they fail to react quickly to a half-cleared corner when the ball was headed back in and deflected off Mark Creighton and onto the post, before Damian Batt scrambled it away. Matt Green almost got away from the Cambridge defence, but a last-ditch tackle prevented him from getting a shot away, and shortly afterwards Chapman brought an excellent one-handed save out of Brown with Oxford's best attempt of the game.

The second half was equally scrappy, although Danny Crow took advantage of a Batt error before shooting against the top of the bar, while at the other end Matt Green should have done better after he was set up by James Constable, but his shot went a yard over. The game was enlivened after the introduction of Deering. His first touch was a first-time cross that Brian Saah totally missed and the ball bounced off the unsuspecting Matt Green's knee and narrowly wide. Deering's second touch was a wonderful piece of control from a lofted cross, pulling the ball down and rounding his man in one neat movement, but instead of going on and shooting he tried to tee up Constable, whose shot was sliced wide. With some reckless tackles coming in from the Cambridge players, allied with their rather blatant time-wasting tactics, the game started to pick up a bit of atmosphere, but the United players failed to react and most were guilty of misplaced passes or just failing to anticipate the movement of the ball in the swirling wind.

This was far from a vintage performance from United, who missed their more creative players. There was no attacking threat from the left at all, as Sandwith just doesn't get forwards in the way that Tonkin does, and while the forwards did well with the ball at their feet, it was too often lumped forwards for the Cambridge defenders to head clear. It was far from pretty, and certainly wouldn't have done much to entice supporters along for the remaining end-of-season games.

The referee was Wayne Barratt with his first time in charge of an Oxford match. All things considered he did okay, although he failed to penalise Cambridge's time-wasting tactics or Crow's diving antics, but it's rare that referees do that anyway. On the plus side he didn't book any Oxford players. The attendance was just 5,219 with 235 from Cambridge, the third-lowest crowd for a Conference match at Grenoble Road this season.

The point keeps Oxford in third place and Cambridge in 13th, but United are now six points adrift of Luton Town, who beat 18th-placed Histon 6-3 at Kenilworth Road to take them to just one point off Stevenage Borough. Oxford are three points above York City, who beat Barrow 3-0 and climbed to fourth place, two points above Rushden & Diamonds, who lost 3-2 at United's next opponents, Mansfield Town, Rob Duffy scoring the Stags' winner with an injury-time penalty. Sixth-placed AFC Wimbledon were beaten 2-0 at home by already-relegated Grays Athletic, for whom Jamie Guy scored a penalty. Salisbury City ensured their escape from relegation with a 3-1 win over Hayes & Yeading United, while third-bottom Forest Green Rovers improved their chances with a 1-0 win over Crawley Town to draw level on points with Gateshead, having played a game more. [@news]2700[/@news] [@opponent]cambridge united[/@opponent]