Rushden & Diamonds 1 Oxford United 1

The half-way stage of the play-off semi-finals sees United and Rushden level pegging, leaving all to play for in Monday's second leg at Grenoble Road. Before last night's game many Oxford fans would probably have been satisfied with a draw, but at the end a large number came away from the ground disappointed after Oxford had battered Rushden and were eventually pegged by courtesy of an appalling referee error that gifted Mark Byrne a goal six minutes into the second half, after James Constable had blasted Oxford ahead in the 29th minute.

Chris Wilder selected the team that many would agree is the strongest side, with a four-man defence of Damian Batt, Mark Creighton, Jake Wright, and Anthony Tonkin in front of goalie Ryan Clarke. Adam Chapman controlled the midfield from the centre, with Dannie Bulman and Simon Clist on either side. Up front the line was led by Constable, with support from Matt Green and Jack Midson. In the 67th minute Alfie Potter came on for Green, and deep into stoppage time Kevin Sandwith replaced Midson, who received a Rushden hand in his face to force him from the field.

Oxford opened the game brightly, with the ball rarely entering the United danger area. The Diamonds gave an early indication of what was in store for the Yellows when Simon Downer elbowed Midson in the face as they attempted to break up Oxford's flowing football with niggling fouls. Green spurned a couple of half chances before Rushden's first real threat ended with Craig Farrell heading narrowly wide, with Clarke comfortable there was no danger. United took the lead they had been threatening when Batt's cross caught the Rushden defence dithering; after a bit of confusion between Constable and Clist, United's leading scorer swivelled on the edge of the box and blasted the ball into the far corner for his 24th goal that counts of the season.

Typically, United then allowed the home side to dictate play for much of the remainder of the first half, although they never got within striking distance of Clarke's goal. In fact the closest we came to another first-half goal was when Bulman let fly from the edge of the area with a shot that looked to be heading for the top corner before swerving narrowly wide at the last moment.

Rushden's equaliser was highly controversial. It started when both referee and linesman somehow missed a blatant handball by a defender in the Rushden penalty area. As the ball was cleared it fell to Chapman, who was then wrestled to the ground by Lee Tomlin right in front of the referee. Foolishly the Oxford players stopped, waiting for the whistle that never came, and Paul Terry set Byrne up for him to shoot past Clarke.

The game was now a much more open affair, with both sides enjoying spells of possession. Midson came very close to scoring when his shot was deflected narrowly over, while at the other end substitute Jefferson Louis had a shot charged down by Creighton before Bulman cleared the danger. Rushden were now happy with the draw and continued their petty gamesmanship, with niggling fouls, some fouls not so niggling, and timewasting being the main part of their repertoire. Chapman almost made them pay with a free-kick that just cleared the bar, and Dale Roberts had to scramble back to tip a Chapman corner over as it was heading in, and at the end of the game it was the Rushden supporters who left the ground the happiest.

With everything now to play for on Monday, Oxford will be looking to replicate their first-half performance from last night. Rushden looked very nervous in the first half hour, with Kurt Robinson in particular slicing the ball into touch every time an Oxford player went near him. United need to keep chasing down the ball when they're not in possession, and when they are in possession they need to keep passing the ball as they can do so well. Monday will be tense, but Oxford have shown over three games so far this season that they're a better side than Rushden.

Last night's referee was David Coote, whose last Oxford game was the 0-0 draw with Kidderminster Harriers in February. Luckily he won't be in charge of Monday's game, that honour goes to Mark Brown, as Coote clearly showed his inability to cope with the big occasion, as demonstrated by his failure to penalise many of the Rushden fouls and his indecision when awarding set pieces (corner? goal-kick? throw-in? who knows?). He didn't need to book any Oxford players, while three Rushden players were lucky to get away with being shown only yellow cards. The attendance was just 4,537 of which 2,333 were away supporters, comprising 51.4 per cent of the total crowd.

In yesterday's other play-off semi-final, a late goal from Richard Brodie earned York City a 1-0 win over Luton Town. [@news]2710[/@news] [@opponent]rushden & diamonds[/@opponent]