A 52nd minute goal from Tommy Mooney rescued a deserved point for United in the frozen wasteland of north Lincolnshire last night. Mooney pounced to hammer home the rebound after a Lee Bradbury shot came back off the underside of the bar. Grimsby had taken a first half lead through Colin Cramb after 18 minutes. Having looked the most threatening for the first ten minutes, Oxford lost their way a bit and allowed Grimsby to take control for much of the first half, with Bradie Clarke having to make a good save and Matt Robinson clearing one half-hit shot off the line. United turned it round in the second half and were the only team likely to win the game, and at the end would have been disappointed not to have taken all three points. Still, an away point will do, and means that United remain unbeaten under Ramon Diaz, who wisely chose the evening to be elsewhere, allegedly scouting.

Horacio Rodriguez kept faith with the same line-up that had started against Cambridge, but at half-time made a telling change. Jamie Brooks had struggled to get into the game during the first half, and he was replaced by Danny Morgan, who took Chris Hackett’s place wide on the right, with Hackett moving up front alongside Craig Davies and Mooney moving to the left. With around 20 minutes to go Hackett made way for Paul Wanless, to strengthen the midfield as Mooney moved back up front. In the last minute Rodriguez decided to hold onto the point, replacing Mooney with Rob Wolleaston.

The evening’s referee was R Booth, who was also in charge of Oxford’s goalless draw with Rushden in September. He showed yellow cards to Barry Quinn for not retreating ten yards, and for Lee Bradbury for backchat. The attendance was 4,777, of whom 200 were following the Mighty Yellows. A match report should appear sometime over the weekend.

The point moves United above Mansfield, at least until this afternoon, into 17th place, with Grimsby remaining 16th. Mansfield visit 3rd bottom Shrewsbury this afternoon.