Oxford United 3 York City 1

Goodbye Conference, hello Football League. Yesterday Oxford maintained their 100 per cent record at Wembley by beating York in the play-off final to earn a return to the League after four long, excruciating seasons of oblivion.

In brief, United took the game to York and were two goals up before a quarter of the game had elapsed. Matt Green opened the scoring with a superlative half-volley on 15 minutes, and six minutes later James Constable drilled a powerful low shot past Michael Ingham. Cruising into half-time, Ryan Clarke then had a Tamworth moment when he dropped a cross from Ben Purkiss over his line. This led to a nervous second half, but the anxiety was relieved in the final minute of normal time when a swift breakaway led to substitutes Alfie Potter and Sam Deering exchanging passes before Potter swept the ball home to recall memories of Brian Moore's 1986 Milk Cup commentary: “That's three, and that's victory!”

Unsurprisingly, Chris Wilder kept faith with the same starting eleven and substitutes who had performed so well in the semi-finals against Rushden & Diamonds. The first substitution was made in the 68th minute when Green, who had just received a nasty knock, was replaced by Potter. Ten minutes later Deering came on for Jack Midson, and with three minutes remaining Adam Chapman, the official Man of the Match, was taken off for Rhys Day.

The first few minutes of the game were fairly cagey, with a nervous moment for Clarke when a speculative mis-hit cross from Chris Carruthers needed quick reactions to be palmed over the bar. Neither side had really threatened to score until Ingham raced out to clear but was beaten to the ball by Constable. His cross was headed on by Midson to Green who chested the ball down before hitting an unstoppable shot into the top of the net from 16 yards.

United fans were still celebrating taking the lead when the team doubled the score. Constable flicked the ball forwards and Green went for a header, but was taken out by James Meredith. The ball span off the York defender's head straight into the path of Constable, who was greatly indebted to his two markers for colliding with each other. Constable touched the ball on before beating Ingham with a powerful shot at his near post.

United continued to take the game forwards, with a shot by Green from the edge of the area forcing Ingham into a scrambled save. Midson then had a glorious chance to make the Us' lead unassailable (relatively speaking), but his header from close range hit the foot of the post and was cleared. Oxford looked to have done enough to see the game through to the interval, but with three minutes remaining before the break Clarke, under no pressure, allowed a harmless cross from Purkiss to slip from his grasp and the ball span over the line before the covering defenders could hack it clear. In his defence, the ball was slippery from the teeming rain that had been falling since before kick-off, but still…

If Oxford had been expecting York to come at them all guns blazing after the interval then they were badly mistaken. Instead it was United who looked more likely to scoring at first, as Midson had an effort cleared from the line and Constable had a shot from the edge of the area blocked. As Oxford started to sit deeper in an effort to protect their lead, York's chances started to come. First Michael Rankine should have scored from eight yards but he pulled his shot wide, and then Clarke had to get down quickly right on his line to keep out a shot from the otherwise anonymous Richard Brodie.

It wasn't all York, though, and Ingham had to be alert to keep out a Simon Clist effort. With five minutes remaining Potter broke free and teed up Constable with a perfect pass, but Beano's shot dipped just over the bar. York were now playing with four strikers, but one of them was Courtney Pitt. As the game was entering stoppage time, a poor corner from Pitt was cleared as far as Potter. He raced forward before slipping the ball to his right for the on-rushing Deering. With United two on one, and the covering defender appealing in vain, and wrongly, for offside, Deering played Potter back in with a slide-rule pass. With just Ingham to beat, Potter shot past the 'keeper and into the net to take the Us back to the League and send 30,000-plus Yellows wild.

A special mention should be given to the referee, Yorkshireman Michael Naylor. He had about as good a game as we've seen from a Conference official and that's not to damn him with faint praise. In addition, in a fairly fought game, he only had to show one yellow card, to the appropriately named Alex Lawless for a late tackle on Anthony Tonkin. The official attendance was 42,669, a new record for the tournament, of whom around 85 per cent or more were there to follow United.

So now, the future. Next season Oxford United will be competing in League Two, which we will continue to call Division Four out of a perverse sense of misplaced nostalgia and disdain for the Premiership initiative. This means that, at last, Oxford will get to play Accrington Stanley. It will also mean games against such glamourous clubs as Wycombe Wanderers, Cheltenham Town, Northampton Town, and Hereford United. It will also mean that United will once again feature in the League Cup, that the Us will join the FA Cup in the first round, and that the nightmare of the FA Trophy can become a distant memory. Bye-bye to non-league tinpottery such as Histon, Salisbury City, Luton Town, and Tamworth, and hello again to the Football Map: the Football League Show, FIFA 11, Sky Sports, and importantly, Football Youth Development sponsorship.

While United's days as a non-league side are now over, they should not be forgotten. Everybody who has experienced the dubious joys of visits to the New Lawn, Farsley, Droylsden, Altrincham, and Woking needs now to strive to ensure that we never again have to endure such horrors. It's bad enough that we are on a par with Macclesfield, Morecambe, Barnet, and Stevenage Borough, so we need to look forwards and press onwards and upwards and use the last four seasons as an incentive to ensure that they never happen again. Come on you Yellows![@news]2723[/@news] [@opponent]york city[/@opponent]