Macclesfield Town 3 Oxford United 2

Oxford suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time this season as their unbeaten away record was blown apart at Moss Rose this afternoon. A combination of poor finishing and disastrous defending undid the Us as they were beaten from a two-goal lead for the first time since Chris Wilder became manager and indeed since 9 December 2000 when they were beaten in the FA Cup at non-league Chester City in the dark days of David Kemp.

Chris Wilder decided to stick with the same starting line-up that lost 1-0 at home to Aldershot Town last Saturday, and it looked to have worked as United stormed into a 2-0 half-time lead that barely reflected their first-half superiority. Oxford took the lead after six minutes when James Constable shot home after an Alfie Potter effort was blocked. Ryan Clarke was forced into a save from Vinny Mukendi shortly afterwards, but Asa Hall could have increased the lead when his shot from a narrow angle hit the bar.

Defensive errors from Macclesfield almost let Oxford in on a couple of occasions, first when Constable charged down a clearance from Jose Veiga with the ball bouncing just wide, and then when Hamza Bencherif passed to Potter, who shot wide when he should have scored. Mukendi hit the post for the home side before Hall was guilty of slicing wide in front of an open goal. Oxford did finally get the second goal that their approach play deserved when Tom Craddock set Potter free. Potter drew Veiga before slipping the ball wide for Craddock to slot home.

Whatever Wilder said at half-time failed dismally, as six minutes into the second half Macc pulled a goal back. A long-range shot from Mukendi was parried by Clarke, but the ball fell kindly for Paul Bolland who had no trouble scoring. Just over quarter of an hour later the Silkmen grabbed a deserved equalizer from some farcical Oxford defending. Ross Draper