Oxford United virtually handed the Conference title to Dagenham & Redbridge this afternoon as they fell to their heaviest defeat of the season, losing 2-0 to Forest Green Rovers.[@opponent]Forest Green Rovers[/@opponent] The defeat ended a run of six games unbeaten, and leaves United eight points behind Dagenham, who now have a game in hand.[@news]2080[/@news] Oxford started off strongly, and for much of the first half it looked much more likely that they would earn the points. In the first minute Yemi Odubade burst into the box, but indecision robbed him of the opportunity to shoot. Despite almost constant pressure, United's first on-target effort didn't occur until seven minutes before half time, when an Eddie Anaclet header was straight at Ryan Robinson. Odubade then had a shot blocked, before FGR took a shock lead in first-half injury time. A Rovers counter attack led to Billy Turley saving well with his legs from Danny Carey-Bertram. From the follow-up corner Anaclet headed Chris Giles's effort off the line, but the rebound fell to Carey-Bertram to score from close range.

Oxford failed to make FGR struggle at the start of the second half, and quarter of an hour after the break another set piece led to their second goal, with Carey-Bertram again taking advantage of slack defending to head home from almost on the goal line. United's inability to defend corners has been their achilles' heel all season, and it looks now like it will rob them of their chance to pip Dagenham to the title. Whether this was a case of the pressure getting to the lads, or whether it was just a bad day at the office, is not important. The only important thing was the win, and United failed to grasp the opportunity to make up any ground on the Conference leaders.

Despite all the injury scares, Jim Smith was able to field an unchanged side from the one that started at Southport, last Tuesday. Smith had resisted the option of rotating his squad, but perhaps that was an error as several of the players looked tired and leggy. After 38 minutes Duffy was taken off, having failed to make an impact, to be replaced by Marvin Robinson. At half time Smith made his second, and final, change, replacing Gavin Johnson with Chris Hargreaves.

Today's referee was S Cook, the same incompetent who refereed the 2-2 draw with Southport on 3 October. In addition to booking Duffy for having his shirt pulled, he also denied United two clear penalties in the second half, first after Michael Corcoran was decked, and second after a Hargreaves header was palmed off the line. Not that Oxford deserved any favours with their inept second half display. Today's attendance was 6,157, of whom 210 floated around the away end. We aim to produce a match report in the next day or two, and as usual will welcome any contributions.

The three points lift Forest Green to the giddy heights of 13th, six points above the relegation zone. Almost all of the other results were poor for United, who now find themselves just four points above York City, who won 2-0 at ninth-placed Aldershot. Morecambe have climbed to fourth with a 1-0 win over Crawley, while Exeter City are fifth following their 2-1 defeat at Halifax. Burton Albion are in sixth place, nine points behind Oxford, after they beat Woking 2-1.

Southport remain bottom of the table, after they drew 2-2 at second-bottom St Albans. Grays Athletic have slipped back into the relegation zone, despite not having a Conference fixture. They lost 1-0 at home to Stevenage Borough in their FA Trophy semi-final first leg. Tamworth have climbed to 21st after their excellent 4-0 win at 20th-placed Stafford Rangers. Altrincham are up to 19th after they won 2-1 at imploding Weymouth. United's opponents on Tuesday, Kidderminster Harriers, beat Northwich Victoria 2-0 in their FA Trophy semi-final first leg at Aggborough.