A reconstituted United strikeforce carved up the Mansfield defence as the Us swept to a deserved win, that should have been even more emphatic. Indeed, but for a rash tackle by Jon Ashton in stoppage time to concede a penalty, converted by Colin Larkin, Oxford might even have achieved that rarest of very rare things: a clean sheet. However, there was no way that Mansfield ever looked like getting anything out of this game after Steve Basham had shot Oxford ahead in the 8th minute. The Rage On sponsored Chris Hackett doubled United’s lead in the 33rd minute with an exquisite lob over Kevin Pilkington, and then ROS Hackett scored his second, the first time in his career that he has scored twice in one game, 8 minutes into the second half. Minutes later he had the ball in the net again, for his hat-trick, but he had already been flagged for offside. Oxford had several chances to extend their lead, before Larkin’s penalty, the first attempt of which was saved by Chris Tardif, but he was considered to have moved off his line and he had little chance with the retake.

Horacio Rodriguez made a few changes from the side that lost to Grimsby last week, the most notable of which was his ommission of leading scorer Tommy Mooney, ostensibly to give him a rest. Lee Bradbury came back into the side, and took back his captain’s armband, playing wide on the right, meaning that Basham was partnered up front by the pacey Hackett. Juan Pablo Raponi was dropped to the bench, with Matt Robinson playing wide left, Mateo Corbo at left back, and Leo Roget came back into central defence. Once United had their three-goal cushion, Rodriguez began to make a few changes. Firstly, ten minutes after the third goal, he brought on Craig Davies for Basham in order to exploit the Mansfield defence’s fear of pace. Three minutes later Raponi replaced Robinson, and as the game drew to a close Emiliano Diaz was given an opportunity to show what he could do on the right wing, replacing Bradbury, nope, sorry, Lucas Cominelli, eventually.

The referee was Paul Danson, who was last involved with Oxford in the last game before Ramon Diaz arrived on the scene, the 1-0 defeat to Swansea. He showed a yellow card to Corbo, but then, who doesn’t? The attendance reflected the lack of significance of the game to both sides, with just 3,013 at Field Mill. We will try and publish a match report tomorrow – this would be made vastly easier if someone who was there would volunteer to send one in.

The win lifts United up one place, to 16th, still 9 points off those unlikely play-off spots. Mansfield are two places and two points above in 14th, having played a game more than Oxford. Yeovil remain three points clear at the top of the table, despite their 2-1 defeat at 6th-placed Darlington. Scunthorpe are second after their emphatic 4-1 thumping of Cheltenham, while Macclesfield are third after winning 1-0 at Shrewsbury, who are sixth from bottom. Southend are fourth after scoring a last minute equaliser against 7th-placed Lincoln, while Swansea have dropped to fifth after being held to a 2-2 home draw against Rochdale.

At the bottom Cambridge stay rooted to the foot of the league despite getting a 1-1 draw at Orient, and Kidderminster are also in the relegation zone even though they won 3-1 at Notts County. They are still four points behind Rushden, who beat local rivals Northampton 3-2 with a last-minute goal. Chester are fourth from bottom after going down 4-2 at Wycombe, while Bury are 20th after they drew 1-1 with Bristol Rovers. United’s opponents next Saturday are Boston, who drew 1-1 with Grimsby.