Oxford United won the second game of the season, and their first away game, 1-0 at Dagenham & Redbridge, in the first ever meeting of the clubs. Yemi Odubade scored United’s goal after 57 minutes to give Oxford the points, despite having been reduced to ten men after just 21 minutes when Barry Quinn was dismissed for a professional foul.

Initially, Quinn’s dismissal led to United adopting a 4-4-1 formation, with Rob Duffy operating as the lone striker, but after half-time Yemi came on for Andy Burgess and joined Duffy up front, in a bold attacking move that paid off for Jim Smith. Yemi’s goal came after Duffy flicked on a long throw-in by Matt Day. For much of the first half and the opening period of the second half, United had to rely on the goalkeeping of Billy Turley and the defensive solidity of Phil Gilchrist, but after Duffy almost scored a second for United, with less than ten minutes remaining, the home side realised they were beaten.

Smith selected the same starting eleven as against Halifax in the opening game, as both Duffy and Burgess overcame their slight injury worries. Even the five substitutes were the same. At half-time Smith made a double substitution, replacing Eddie Hutchinson with Chris Hargreaves and, inspirationally, bringing on Yemi for Burgess.

Today’s referee was DJ Cann, taking charge of his first ever United fixture. His performance was interesting, but United can have no complaints about the decision to dismiss Quinn, who was the last player when he pulled back Paul Benson just outside the penalty area. Duffy was also cautioned for a foul in the second half. The attendance was 2,022, including around 500 United fans. This was the fourth highest attendance in the Conference this evening, and five higher than Dagenham’s highest crowd of last season. The attendance for United’s game against Halifax on Saturday is still easily the League’s highest of the season. We hope to publish a match report tomorrow.

Although only two games have been played and league tables mean nothing yet, this result puts the Us into second place, behind Weymouth, who beat Aldershot 1-0 in front of the day’s best crowd of 3,583. United and Weymouth are the only two sides with six points out of six, and both have the same goal difference of +3, but the Terras have scored one more than Oxford.. Crawley also boast a 100 percent record after winning 2-1 at Woking, but due to their starting the season on -10 points, they remain bottom with -4 points. Dave Woozley scored Crawley’s winner. St Albans, leaders after the first day, were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Cambridge United. United visit Burton Albion on Friday, for whom Daryl Clare scored in their 1-1 draw at home to Kidderminster, to leave them in fifth place.

There are four teams still without a point. Tamworth are second from bottom, above Crawley, after going down 4-1 at Gravesend & Northfleet, while Rushden also lost again, going down 3-1 at home to Grays Athletic. Forest Green Rovers lost 1-0 at Exeter, to leave them pointless, and early favourites Stevenage Borough lost their second game on the bounce, 2-1 at home to York City.