United were held to a goalless draw, just the third game they have failed to win at home, by Lincoln City, who Oxford have beaten on all the previous four meetings. Oxford had the better chances, and most of the possession, but were unable to break down Lincoln’s stubborn resistance. The visitors didn’t have their first shot on target until the 43rd minute, and their first corner came a couple of minutes later. United came close twice in the first couple of minutes, with Paul Wanless having a header cleared off the line, and again in the second half when Alan Marriott did well to tip a Dean Whitehead drive over and then new signing Richie Foran headed against the post. This draw extends United’s unbeaten run to 17 games.
The starting line-up was the same as that at Swansea on Tuesday, with Jefferson Louis once again partnering Steve Basham up front, and Paul McCarthy retaining his place in the defence. Thirteen minutes into the second half Louis was replaced by Mark Rawle, and United immediately looked more likely to score. Eight minutes later Foran came on for his first appearance in a Yellow shirt, replacing Basham, and the debutant looked like he could be a useful acquisition.
The whistle-happy referee was P Taylor, who was as petty and inaccurate as they come, but only booked one player, and he was from Lincoln so it doesn’t really matter. The attendance was 6,679, the second highest in the division. A match report may well appear tomorrow sometime.
Failing to win means that United were knocked off the top of the division by next week’s opponents, Hull City, who won 1-0 at second-bottom Darlington to go above the Us on goal difference. Lincoln meanwhile dropped one place to seventh. Results generally were unfavourable to United, with all their rivals winning apart from Swansea, who went down 2-0 at Bury to leave themselves in eighth place. Doncaster are third, just one point behind Oxford, after thrashing Orient 5-0 thanks to a Leo Fortune-West hat-trick. Mansfield beat Kidderminster 1-0 to stay fourth, and Yeovil’s 1-0 win over Rochdale leaves them in fifth place. Huddersfield climbed above Lincoln into sixth spot after winning 2-1 at Cambridge. Torquay’s 2-1 win over Northampton takes them to ninth, level on points with the Swans two points behind the play-off places.
At the bottom Carlisle’s recent revival came to a juddering halt at York, where they lost 2-0, and Southend and Cheltenham fought out a 1-1 draw last night. Having said that, Carlisle did score: a penalty for Bristol Rovers as they beat Scunthorpe 1-0. Stuart Douglas was on target for Boston in their 3-1 win over Macclesfield.
After the Oxford v Lincoln match Ian Atkins confirmed that Manny Omoyinmi will be going back on loan to Margate, and will probably be joined by Jamie Brooks, who needs further competitive games under his belt as his recuperation continues.
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