United ended the season in an apt fashion, conceding a last-minute goal to lose 1-0 at home to Chester City. Chester’s goal was scored by Ryan Lowe, who beat Matt Robinson to the ball and shot past United’s Fans’ Player of the Season Chris Tardif. The scoreline was a bit harsh on Oxford, who had dominated the second half, and prevented the Blues having any real scoring opportunities. Up front, Steve Basham had an excellent opportunity to give United the lead about 8 minutes before the break, but he shot straight at Chris MacKenzie when he should have done better. Despite United taking the game to Chester after half-time, MacKenzie didn’t really have much to do, and it was typical of United’s season that, just as the rain started to pelt down, they lost concentration to cede the game to the opposition.

Caretaker manager David Oldfield took charge of the team, following the disappointing breakdown in negotiations between Firoz Kassam and Horatio Rodriguez. He made just one change from the side that got slaughtered at Rochdale last week, bringing Lee Molyneaux into the centre of defence, pushing Mateo Corbo from centre-back to left-back, with Robinson moving up to wide left, and Lee Bradbury dropping into central midfield in place of Lucas Cominelli, who was on the bench. Corbo was forced off injured at the break, with Craig Davies replacing him, moving to the left wing and with Robbo dropping to his more usual full-back position. With 20 minutes to go Paul Burton came on for only his second first-team appearance, replacing Dave Mackay, and nine minutes later Billy Beechers made his third appearance for the Us, coming on for Tommy Mooney, possibly making his final appearance for the Yellows.

Today’s referee was Mick Russell, his first time in charge of an Oxford game, and he marked the occasion by refraining from showing any Oxford players a yellow card, not even Corbo, although he did book former United player Phil Bolland. The attendance was a surprisingly respectable 5, 055. A match report may appear tomorrow, if inspiration strikes.

The defeat means that United finish the season in 15th place, while Chester end up 20th. Yeovil’s 3-0 win over Lincoln ensured that the Glovers ended as champions, while Lincoln are in the play-offs, finishing 6th. Scunthorpe finish 2nd after their goalless draw at Shrewsbury, who ended one place below Chester in 21st. Swansea’s 1-0 win over Bury ensured that there will be no league visit for Oxford to the White Rock stadium next season, as the Swans took the final automatic promotion spot, at the expense of Southend, who could only draw 1-1 at Grimsby. Macclesfield finished 5th after beating Rushden 1-0, the Diamonds finishing the season in 22nd place, six points clear of the drop. The final play-off place was sealed by Northampton, who beat relegated Kidderminster 3-0, to finish above Darlington on goal difference, after the Quakers beat Cheltenham 3-1. Courtney Pitt scored Boston’s goal in their 1-1 draw with Rochdale, and Richard Walker scored the Bristol Rovers goal that gave them a 1-0 win over Wycombe.

In the Third Division, the final relegation place was taken by Torquay United, who lost 2-1 at Colchester. This meant they finished level on points with Franchise, who beat Tranmere 2-1, while Oldham saved themselves with a 2-1 win over Bradford, for whom Dean Windass scored. In last night’s Conference play-off semi-finals, Stevenage Borough won 1-0 at Hereford to seal a 2-1 aggregate win. In the final they will face Carlisle, who beat Aldershot 2-1 to make the aggregate score 2-2. Carlisle then won the penalty shoot-out 5-4.