Basham bashes 'em

It's good to have an opportunity to get the crap pun headlines out of the way early in the season, and a goal from Steve Basham just before half-time on his full debut is a godsend, especially as it turned out to be the winner. Darlington will be practising their heading in training this week, as they had three clear headers from close range, none of which hit the target when they should all have been scored. Basham's goal was an opportunistic long-range strike and deserved to win the game, especially as Darlo appeared to give up with about fifteen minutes left.

Ian Atkins made two changes from the side which lost at Wrexham on Tuesday, both up front. Basham and Andy Scott replaced Dean Whitehead and the injured Manny Omoyinmi, with David Oldfield dropping back to cover Whitehead's wide right position in midfield. Whitehead was United's first substitute, after 56 minutes, replacing Dave Savage with Oldfield switching flanks to the left and Deano taking up his usual right-wing berth. ROS Chris Hackett was a straight swap for Basham with eleven minutes left and with two minutes to go Sam Ricketts came on for Scott, with Oldfield moving up front to partner Hackett.

Referee MJ Jones had a fine game, only producing the yellow card on one occasion and that was for a home player for a foul on Scott. The attendance was a somewhat poor 3,533. A match is now online here.

Oxford are now sixth in the division, just one point behind the leaders Rushden, who beat Kidderminster 3-1, and York, 4-3 victors over Torquay, with Lee Nogan putting the home side 2-0 up. Hartlepool, who lost 2-0 at home to Macclesfield, and Leyton Orient, 2-0 winners over Scunthorpe, are above United on goal difference, whilst Shrewsbury, who won 3-2 at United's next opponents Southend, are fifth on goals scored. Boston remain bottom on -2 points following their 1-1 draw at Wrexham, with Bristol Rovers second bottom after they lost 2-1 at home to Rochdale, with Paul Simpson scoring the winner. Southend are third from bottom.

Former United scorers elsewhere include Mark Stein, who hit two of Dagenham & Redbridge's goals in their 3-1 win over Leigh RMI, and Ben Abbey, who scored the only goal of the game for Woking against Forest Green Rovers. Marco Gabbiadini scored both Northampton's goals in their 2-1 win at Cardiff.

The Bury Man of the Match poll was won by Matt Robinson, with Dean Whitehead a close second. Weakest Link was Dave Waterman.