Oxford United's inability to score continued this afternoon at Aldershot, in the club's first appearance in the Setanta Shield.[@news]2241[/@news][@opponent]aldershot[/@opponent] However, there was some small reason for cheer, as United put in a much-improved performance against the Conference leaders, who had won their previous five matches, and their last ten at home. United did have chances to score, and Yemi Odubade shot into the side netting in the first half when perhaps he should have squared the ball for Rob Duffy. At the other end, Carl Pettefer headed off the line from Dave Winfield, but Danny Rose came close to scoring with a shot blocked by a Shots defender.

There was less goalmouth action at the start of the second period, but midway through the half a free kick, conceded by Barry Quinn, was floated into the Oxford area and when the ball broke for Kirk Hudson he shot past the helpless Sam Warrell. There were some half chances for Joel Ledgister, Matt Day, and Ashley Barnes, but eventually the side ran out of steam, and manager Darren Patterson still hasn't solved the goalscoring conundrum.

Patto did make a number of changes to the side that lost at Tonbridge Angels in the FA Trophy in midweek. Day played at right back in place of James Clarke, and there was a rare start for Michael Corcoran in defence, as Quinn stepped up to midfield in place of Eddie Hutchinson. Joel Ledgister came back into the side to replace Phil Trainer, and Gary Twigg was left out as Rose returned to action. Up front, Yemi started alongside Duffy, as Barnes was on the bench. Barnes came on for Rose just a couple of minutes prior to the Aldershot goal, and youth team striker Matt Day made his United debut, coming on for Duffy for the last five minutes.

Today's referee was S Hooper, taking charge of a Yellows game for the first time. He was a lot less fussy than many of his colleagues, but did book Quinn and Luke Foster. The attendance was 1,573, of whom 104 were in the away enclosure.

And so United are now out of all three cup competitions and can, as the old adage has it, concentrate on the league. This is just as well, as the league needs some concentrating on, starting with two important home games, against Crawley Town on Boxing Day (Wednesday, in real money) and Kidderminster Harriers, the last team that conceded a goal against Oxford, on next Saturday. Both of these forthcoming opponents won their Setanta Shield games 2-1 today. Crawley won at Eastbourne Borough, while Kiddy won at Hinkley United. Have a Yellow Christmas, and look out for our Crawley preview, either on Christmas Eve or, if we're not too pissed, Christmas Day.