Barrow 3 Oxford United 1

Oxford bowed out of the FA Cup with barely a whimper this evening, losing to a committed Barrow side in front of their partisan supporters, who deserved their prize of a trip to Sunderland's Stadium of Light. In truth United never looked like troubling Barrow, and as soon as ex-U Phil Bolland headed home Marc Goodfellow's corner on 38 minutes the game was up.

Oxford didn't even force Stuart Tomlinson into a save until quarter of an hour from the end, when the 'keeper made a routine save from a James Constable shot. By that time United had conceded a further two goals; Carlos Logan beat the hapless Ross Perry and shot past Ryan Clarke three minutes after half-time, and in the 66th minute Goodfellow scored the goal he deserved when his free-kick took a huge deflection off Kevin Sandwith to leave Clarke wrong-footed.

To be fair, United kept going and after Constable's shot they started to combine more effectively up front, although that could partly be explained by Barrow, knowing the game was won, taking their foot off the gas. At least the Us scored a goal, Constable lashing in a shot in the final minute of normal time to bring some slight respectability to the scoreline.

United's record of never having won at Holker Street continues, and on this showing they could have no complaints. The worry for Chris Wilder would be that his full-backs looked to be too easily exploited, as they were to a far lesser extent against Ebbsfleet United on Saturday, while there was precious little guile coming from midfield. At least we can now concentrate on the FA Trophy.

Wilder made two changes to the side that beat Ebbsfleet, both enforced. Skipper Adam Murray was ill, so Luke Foster was restored to the centre of defence with Perry taking over defensive midfield duties, although starting initially in the centre of a back three. Up front Onome Sodje had been refused permission by Barnsley to play in the FA Cup, so Jamie Cook won a recall to the side. The first substitution was also an enforced one, with Dannie Bulman limping off five minutes into the second period, just after United conceded the second goal. He was replaced by Matt Green, making his first appearance since his injury at Kidderminster Harriers 24 days ago. Five minutes later Jack Midson replaced Alfie Potter, who had been marked out of the game by Gareth Jelleyman. Appearing on the bench for United for the first time was youth team striker Daniel West.

Tonight's referee was Karl Evans, taking control of his first Oxford United match. He showed yellow cards to Constable and Kevin Sandwith. The attendance was 2,754, with a desultory 146 braving the elements in the open away end. [@news]2610[/@news] [@opponent]barrow[/@opponent]