Last night United went two points clear at the top of the Conference, after beating a determined St Albans side 2-1 at home. Oxford had been reduced to ten men when Chris Hargreaves had been sent off in the 67th minute for an alleged two-footed tackle, but this setback hardly affected the home side’s dominance over a Saints side that had clearly come to try and gain a point.

In the first half Carl Pettefer’s shot was pushed onto the bar by Paul Bastock, but new signing Marvin Robinson was adjudged offside as he pounced to put the rebound into the net. Just before half time, Eddie Anaclet surged inside, but his shot went just wide. In the second half, Yemi Odubade should have done better when Matt Day put him clean through, but Bastock stood up well and made the save. Two minutes after Hargreaves’s dismissal, United took the lead when Yemi pounced on Duffy’s header and flicked the ball wide of Bastock. With six minutes left it looked like St Albans had gained the point that they hardly deserved, as Dave Theobald was left unmarked at a corner to head home. This was the sort of goal that United had conceded too often in pre-season, and which they had apparently worked on during training. However, within a couple of minutes the rightful order was restored as Day surged through the massed Saints defence and smashed the ball into the top right-hand corner of the goal.

Jim Smith was forced into one change from the side that drew at Weymouth, with Steve Basham still struggling with a hamstring injury. This allowed Smith to give a debut to new signing Marvin Robinson up front. Unfortunately, Robbo III’s debut only lasted 20 minutes, after which he landed awkwardly and did nasty things to one of his fingers, forcing Yemi into another early appearance. Less than ten minutes later, things went from bad to worse for United, as Gavin Johnson became the latest U to suffer a hamstring injury, and he had to be replaced by Day. With quarter of an hour remaining, and United defending a 1-0 lead, Smith took off striker Rob Duffy and brought on Eddie Hutchinson. Steady Eddie will probably be the replacement for Hargreaves, who faces a three-match suspension.

The match referee was N Kinseley (another one without a mention on Soccerbase). It would be difficult to prove the statement that he was the worst referee yet seen at a senior professional match in Oxford, but he certainly made a decent attempt to earn that accolade. He showed yellow cards to Yemi and Chris Willmott, both for late tackles, and arguably the dismissal of Hargreaves was justified, but in terms of overall decision making Mr Kinseley was absolutely hopeless. He missed one blatant back pass by a St Albans defender, picked up by Bastock, as well as various fouls in and around both penalty areas (one on Pettefer, in particular, was difficult to miss), while calling play back for no real reason on a number of occasions. Abysmal. The attendance was a splendid 6,190, easily the highest Conference attendance of the season so far, and the 30th best ever in this league. We hope to produce a proper match report sometime in the near future.

The win gives the Us a two-point cushion at the top of the Conference, at least until this afternoon, when Weymouth visit United’s next opponents, Morecambe. St Albans drop to 13th. Grays, who were top, lost 1-0 at home to Burton to drop to third and lift Burton up to 11th. York, previously 4th, are now second after they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Stafford, who have gone 6th. Exeter are now 5th after they won 3-1 at second-bottom Cambridge, a result that led to the other Us sacking manager Rob Newman. Paul Wanless’s Forest Green Rovers are third from bottom after going down 3-2 at home to Woking, who have gone 10th.

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