United's poor form continued this evening with a 1-0 defeat at Woking[@opponent]Woking[/@opponent]. In a game that it was important for Oxford to win, they proved incapable of rising to the occasion, and a poor performance gave the large travelling contingent little cause for optimism. In a scrappy game during which neither side produced much in the way of decent football, the Cards took the lead in the 13th minute, when Neil Smith headed home a cross from Adam Green. Green wasn't closed down quickly enough, and Smith was unmarked for the header.[@news]2052[/@news] The remainder of the first half passed with little incident, and neither keeper had a serious save to make.

Oxford started the second half with a flourish, and James Bittner was forced to dive to push a Danny Rose shot around the post. Thereafter it was a familiar story of huff and puff, and no end product. What little passing football was played came from United, but it was too little, and there was no penetration. Yemi Odubade made a couple of decent runs down the right flank, but there was either no support, or he was closed down before he could get a cross in. Rob Duffy was noticeably much poorer in the air than of late, while Kris Grebis played well enough, but like his colleagues he never looked like getting into goalscoring positions. It remains difficult to pinpoint exactly what has gone wrong at United, but injuries can't have helped, and the side is missing the creative input of Andy Burgess. In addition, when Matt Day, Gavin Johnson, and Chris Hargreaves are good enough to get in the starting line up, and John Dempster comes off the bench, there's no indication that distribution is going to be a high point of the game.

Jim Smith made two changes to the side that drew at Grays on Saturday. Day played at right wing back in place of the injured Eddie Anaclet, who missed his first Conference match of the season, while on the opposite flank, Johnson played instead of the equally aged Rufus Brevett, who was rested. Yemi came on for Day at halftime, as United shifted to a 4-3-3 formation, with Barry Quinn moving to right back. Twelve minutes after the break, Dempster had to come on for Georges Santos, who was stretchered off after going down clutching his leg. The final throw of the dice came 18 minutes from time, when Marvin Robinson replaced Carl Pettefer and Oxford went to what was essentially a 4-2-4 line-up, and although Oxford mounted a lot of pressure on Woking, their goal threat didn't really increase.

Today's referee was JJ Linington, who hasn't been as bad as some we've suffered this season, and although he failed to stamp down properly on Woking's gamesmanship and time wasting, he did add on six minutes at the end of the game. He also booked Rob Duffy for a stupid foul. The attendance was 2,228, with 739 away fans. A match report has been promised – we await breathlessly.

Salt was rubbed into United's sorry wounds with Dagenham & Redbridge doing something that Oxford were unable to do on Saturday, winning 1-0 at Grays Athletic, which extended their lead to six points. York moved to just four points behind the Us, with a 1-1 draw at Halifax, while Gravesend also moved to 48 points after drawing 1-1 at Crawley, for whom David Woozley was on target yet again, with an 89th minute equaliser. Burton stayed fifth despite not having a game, thanks to Morecambe's 0-0 draw at home to second-bottom Southport. Weymouth's woes came to haunt them today, as they lost 4-0 at Exeter City. Kidderminster climbed to ninth thanks to a 2-0 win over Stafford Rangers, and Stevenage Borough went down to a surprise 2-1 home defeat at the hands of St Albans. Another surprise result was Forest Green Rovers' 3-0 win over Aldershot. Cambridge United look to be in serious trouble at the bottom, after losing 3-1 at Rushden & Diamonds, who visit Oxford on Monday.