Scunthorpe once again proved to be United’s bogey team, as Ian Barraclough scored a last minute goal to deny the Us a hard-earned win. Oxford were under the cosh for much of the game, but they defended resiliently and soaked up everything the Iron threw at them. United took an unlikely lead in the 32nd minute when Tommy Mooney pounced on a Steve Basham pass to shoot home. The goal rattled Scunthorpe and United started to come more into the game. Oxford had chances to extend their lead, although at the other end they had Chris Tardif and Jon Ashton to thank for keeping them in the game. In the 89th minute Barraclough equalised, and in stoppage time Scunthorpe had chances to win, but United held firm to win a point that they would have taken before the game (if given the chance).

Horacio Rodriguez kept the same starting line-up as that against Boston, with Mateo Corbo not even on the bench. Twelve minutes into the second half Lucas Cominelli was taken off, to be replaced by Paul Wanless to help shore up the midfield. With six minutes to go Lee Molyneaux came on for Chris Hackett to further help the rearguard action, alas to no avail.

Tonight’s referee was Trevor Parkes, who took charge of United’s win over Mansfield back in August. Tonight he showed Matt Robinson a nice yellow card. The attendance was just 23 shy of 6,000. A match report might be published tomorrow or Sunday, depending if anyone writes one for us.

The point takes United, briefly, into the top half of the table, up to 12th place, nine points behind 7th-placed Darlington, while Scunthorpe stay 2nd, just one point below Yeovil, who visit Boston tomorrow. Third-placed Southend beat Rochdale 3-0, while Macclesfield in 4th place lost 2-0 at 5th-placed Swansea. Lincoln moved up to 6th after thrashing Rushden 4-1 away, and Northampton are 8th after they won 1-0 at Wycombe.

Cambridge stay bottom after drawing 0-0 at Shrewsbury, and Chester are 4th from bottom, 9 points above the relegation zone, after they drew 0-0 at Mansfield. Elsewhere Bury beat Grimsby 3-1, and United’s opponents on Monday, Orient, lost 3-2 at home to Cheltenham.

Earlier this evening Craig Davies made his Wales under-21 debut against Austria at Merthyr Tydfil. Wales won 1-0 thanks to an own goal, in which Davies was involved. Davies gave an excellent performance and was given an ovation when substituted, seven minutes from time.