Oxford United slumped to an abject away defeat at village club Histon last night, offering what was possibly their worst performance since relegation to the Conference in an abject second half. United started brightly, and were the dominant team throughout the first period, although they went behind against the run of play just before the half-hour mark. A scuffed strike from Antonio Murray deflected off Arthur Gnohere and spooned over Billy Turley, dropping into the net off the bar in front of the bemused Us fans.[@news]2185[/@news][@opponent]histon[/@opponent]

United continued to press for the remainder of the half, and went close with a header from Marvin Robinson, who had earlier hit the post, and a misdirected cross from Yemi Odubade. However, they were unable to find the equaliser, and in the second half the side just fell apart. Eddie Anaclet, who had tormented the Histon left side in the first half, suddenly forgot how to get past his man, and how to make accurate passes. His ability to cede possession was surpassed by Phil Trainer, while Alex Jeannin also seemed to catch the giveaway bug. Up front, for all their huffing and puffing, neither Yemi nor Robinson made a dent on the Histon defence, while Paul Shaw was looking increasingly isolated. United did get the ball in the net with ten minutes to go, following United's best move of the half, but Danny Rose's header was correctly ruled out for offside. United have lost their way recently, but this result and second-half performance were both inexcusable and incomprehensible. Action has to be taken to rescue United's season, and that action has to be both immediate and effective.

Jim Smith made three changes to the side that lost at home to Aldershot on Saturday. Fastish Eddie came back into the side at right wingback, with Matt Day moving into central defence and Mickey Corcoran, punished for his error that led to the Shots' second goal, was relegated to the bench. Eddie Hutchinson replaced Carl Pettefer in midfield, while Yemi took over from Rob Duffy up front, ostensibly to inject some pace into the attack. Hutch proved ineffective, however, and was replaced at half time by Michael Standing, a more creative player, but who was unable to impose himself on the game (although almost everything useful that United managed in the second half came through him). Much to his chagrin, Robinson was replaced by Duffy on the hour, but he was unable to change United's inability to convert chances, and was beaten in the air too often. With quarter of an hour remaining, the knackered Shaw was replaced by Rose.

Last night's referee was D Sheldrake, who gave a decent performance, including cautioning Gnohere for a foul, when he could easily have produced a red as Arthur was the last man. He also correctly denied Histon a late penalty for a challenge by Turley on Cliff Akurang. The attendance was 1,257, of whom 252 trooped forlornly from the away end after the game.

The defeat sees Histon leapfrog United, into eighth place, with United dropping one place to tenth (11th if Crawley's six-point deduction is overturned). However, United have now played a game more than everyone else (except Histon, of course), and with no game this weekend they could find themselves dropping into the bottom half of the Conference, which would represent the club's worst position in almost 50 years. Not good.