A high-scoring, open and exciting game at Nene Park encapsulated everything that is both right and wrong with Oxford at the moment. On the plus side, Oxford looked excellent going forwards, although were perhaps a bit poor with their finishing, while on the debit side the defending remains abysmal. The first decent move of the match led to the opening goal, after 14 minutes. A sublime pass from the inspirational Lee Bradbury set Jamie Brooks free down the left, and his cross picked out Chris Hackett, unmarked and six yards out, to score his first goal of the season. After 37 minutes Craig Dove equalised for Rushden & Diamonds, when his mishit cross squirmed under Bradie Clarke’s body, following some defensive hesitation. United’s lead was restored a couple of minutes before half-time following a badly cleared corner. The ball fell invitingly for Bradbury, who caught it perfectly on the volley to beat Lee Worgan from the edge of the area. The second half was only six minutes old when Rushden equalised again, a shot from David Bell after the United defence again failed to clear. Rushden then took the lead for the first time eleven minutes later, when Jason Taylor’s header looped over Clarke. Craig Davies scored his second goal for United with 13 minutes to go, outpacing the last defender and then coolly lobbing Worgan when it looked like he’d held onto the ball for too long. United could have had three points, but in the end were pleased to get one and remain unbeaten under Ramon Diaz.

Head coach Horatio Rodriguez named the same starting line-up for the third consecutive game, keeping faith with Clarke even though Chris Tardif is now fit. Brooks lasted slightly longer than at Grimsby, being replaced by Rob Wolleaston quarter of an hour into the second half. With four minutes left Mark E’Beyer came on for the tiring Bradbury, and in the final minute Chris Hackett was replaced by Lee Molyneaux as the Yellows tried to shore up the defence.

The referee was M Fletcher, who was also in charge of United’s League Cup defeat at home to Reading earlier in the season. Fletcher had an appalling game, possibly even embarrassing. He was totally inconsistent with his awarding of free kicks, and often got quite basic decisions wrong. He booked Davies for persistent fouling, even though he was clearly being pushed and held every time he had the ball, and he booked Tommy Mooney for dissent after a Rushden player, Andrew Sambrook, lying injured off the pitch, deliberately rolled back onto the field of play to receive treatment, in order to waste time, about which Fletcher did nothing. He then showed Mooney a second yellow six minutes from time for a foul, meaning that Tommy will miss Tuesday’s game against Kidderminster. The attendance was just 4,140, the lowest crowd to watch a league game between the teams. We may get it together to produce a match report later (if anyone wants to volunteer please send one in).

The draw leaves Oxford in 18th place, and lifts Rushden up one place to 20th, above Notts County whose game against Northampton fell victim to a frozen pitch. United’s next opponents, Kidderminster, remain firmly entrenched at the bottom of the league after losing 5-1 at home to third placed Swansea, where the visitors were reduced to ten men after half an hour, and their last three goals came in the final couple of minutes. Cambridge remain second from bottom, their match at 17th-placed Mansfield also called off because of the weather, and third-bottom Shrewsbury’s game at Bury was also postponed. Chester stay one place and two points below Oxford after a 1-1 draw at home to league leaders Scunthorpe.

Second placed Yeovil are still five points behind Scunny, despite beating Cheltenham 4-1, while Southend stay fourth after winning 1-0 at Wycombe. Fifth placed Macclesfield had a goalless draw at Grimsby, and Rochdale moved into the final play-off place, courtesy of a 3-0 win at Darlington. There were two penalty goals as Bristol Rovers and Orient drew 1-1, while the Boston v Lincoln derby was another game that was frozen off.