A solitary goal from on-loan midfielder Danny Rose was enough to give Oxford all three points at Southport this evening.[@opponent]Southport[/@opponent] The win was United's fourth in a row, and consolidates the recent turn around in the side's form. United started the better in the first half, but the home side kept them at bay, and mounted some pressure of their own, with Billy Turley required to make three decent saves in as many minutes midway through the half.

The visitors increased the tempo in the second half and, one effort from Jon Newby notwithstanding, it was all United. Then, on the hour, a ten-pass move culminated with a long ball from Barry Quinn that Rob Duffy headed down to Rose, whose strike beat Paul Harrison. With quarter of an hour remaining United had a golden opportunity to double their lead when Duffy rounded Harrison only for the keeper to pull him down. Surprisingly, Harrison was shown only a yellow card despite denying a clear goalscoring opportunity. From the resultant penalty the fortunate custodian made a fairly simple save, and so Duffy missed his first spot-kick out of ten this season. The save fired up the home side, who mounted further pressure, and Turley had to be alert to keep out a Mark Boyd effort, but after four minutes of stoppage time the game ended with United's lead intact.

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Jim Smith fielded an unchanged side from the one that beat Stevenage 2-0 on Saturday, although it didn't remain unchanged for very long. After just quarter of an hour, captain Phil Gilchrist had to leave the field nursing a back injury, and he was replaced by the recently recovered Barry Quinn, who went to right back while Matt Day slotted into the centre. Just a minute after United took the lead, Day himself was forced off with an injury, leading to a further reshuffle, as Marvin Robinson came on, with Yemi Odubade dropping to right wing, Eddie Anaclet dropping to right back, and Quinn moving into central defence. With three minutes remaining, Chris Hargreaves came on for Duffy as Oxford tried to shore things up.

Tonight's referee was Andy Haines, taking charge of an Oxford match for the first time. Apart from his failure to dismiss Harrison, Haines had a mostly decent match, although he did show Anaclet an unnecessary yellow card. This was Anaclet's fifth of the season, but the winger avoids a suspension as the rules change at the end of February, and he will just receive a written warning as to his future conduct. The attendance at Haig Avenue was a dismal 1,054, boosted by a couple of hundred travelling supporters. This is slightly below Southport's average, the fixture presumably affected by some nonsense going on in Liverpool, nearby. We hope (against expectation) that someone might care to submit a match report tomorrow.

This was a significant win for United, as it decreases the gap to first-placed Dagenham & Redbridge to eight points, after the leaders were held at home by 18th-placed Stafford Rangers, for whom Scott McNiven's twin brother David scored a late equaliser. The result was less beneficial to Southport, who now find themselves propping up the table again. York stay third, seven points behind Oxford, after they came from behind to beat Northwich Victoria 2-1, while Exeter City move back up to fourth after they beat fifth-bottom Grays Athletic 2-1. Morecambe are now fifth after they drew 2-2 at 12th-placed Rushden & Diamonds, while Gravesend & Northfleet have slipped out of the play-off places into sixth place after they lost 3-1 at home to 10th-placed Weymouth, for whom Stuart Beavon did not score.

St Albans City were without a game this evening, and slipped to second bottom as a result, while Tamworth rose to 22nd after they beat ninth-placed Aldershot 2-0. Altrincham are now fourth from bottom after they thrashed 17th-placed Cambridge United 5-0, while Halifax are 19th after they lost 1-0 at 11th-placed Kidderminster Harriers. Stevenage Borough are seventh after they won 1-0 at 14th-placed Woking, while Burton Albion are eighth after they lost 1-0 at 13th-placed Crawley, for whom Dave Woozley[@player]Woozley, David[/@player] scored the second minute winner.