United were knocked out of the FA Cup first round today, losing 2-1 at Wycombe Wanderers. The match was a relatively even affair, which considering the gap between the sides reflects well on the Us. Wycombe had the best chance of the first half, when Stefan Oakes hit the bar from a free kick, harshly awarded against Chris Hargreaves. Defences were generally on top, but as half-time loomed, a Chris Willmott volley had to be spectacularly turned over by Jamie Young.

The second half continued in a similar vein to the first, with the sides more or less matching each other in a fairly physical encounter. With almost quarter of an hour of the half past, the home side took the lead when Will Antwi turned sharply to prod the ball home, following a corner. United’s heads didn’t drop, though, and with five minutes remaining substitute Gavin Johnson equalised with a sweetly struck left-footed free kick, from about 25 yards, although Young should probably have done better. The United fans were still celebrating when the ball fell to Oakes in the Oxford penalty area, and he shot across Billy Turley to score.

Jim Smith was forced into two changes for today’s game, both of which were quite significant. Striker Rob Duffy, whose cast was found acceptable, felt that his finger was too sore after he broke it last weekend. More importantly, Andy Burgess sprained his calf in training and was unable to play. Steve Basham came into the starting line-up in place of Duffy, while Eddie Hutchinson was Burges’ replacement. Smith made his first change just a minute before Wycombe opened the scoring, with Johnson coming on for Hutch. With seven minutes to go Rufus Brevett was taken off, with Matt Day coming on, and four minutes later John Dempster replaced the disappointing Eddie Anaclet.

United supporters might remember today’s referee Scott Matthieson from last season’s matches at Bury and at home to Rushden. Today’s performance was characteristically fussy and inconsistent, with the flow of the game constantly interrupted by him whistling for petty fouls and nothing offences. He booked Brevett, for some reason. The attendance today was 6,279, of whom 1,835 were in the away end. This is Wycombe’s best gate of the season. With a bit of luck a match report will be written tomorrow – any volunteers?

There were two Conference matches today. United’s opponents next Saturday, Gravesend, were demolished 3-0 at Cambridge, for whom Courtney Pitt scored the second. Elsewhere, Forest Green Rovers were held to a 2-2 draw by St Albans, who climbed off the bottom of the table as a result. Of the Conference clubs in today’s FA Cup games, plaudits go to Rushden & Diamonds, who beat third division Yeovil 3-1, and whatever the opposite of plaudits is go to Northwich Victoria, who were hammered 8-0 at Brighton.