Oxford United 1 Crawley Town 2

Oxford slumped to another disappointing defeat this afternoon, going down to top-of-the-table Crawley after taking a 17th-minute lead. Yemi Odubade converted the penalty awarded after he had been brought down by Jake Wright, but United were behind before half time. First, Jon Paul Pittman drove powerfully home from outside the box, eight minutes before the break. Then, three minutes later, Crawley took the lead. A Simon Weatherstone corner was headed goalwards by an unmarked Adam Quinn, with Adam Murray clearing off the line. Unfortunately, the ball fell to Jamie Cook, who easily headed home.

United started nervously, with Thomas Pinault bringing a decent save out of Billy Turley after three minutes. Then Oxford started to gain the upper hand, as a Lewis Haldane cross was headed against the bar by Yemi. Odubade was first to the rebound, which also hit the bar before being scrambled behind. Turley then saved from Cook, before United took the lead. The remainder of the half was fairly even until that spell of ten minutes just before the break, when the Us shot themselves in their collective foot.

In the second half United had much more possession than the visitors, but failed to force the sky-blue clad Simon Rayner into a save of note. The nearest they came was when Yemi broke clear, but he was denied by a last-ditch tackle. United became increasingly desperate as time was running out, and ROS Sam Deering, wearing his new RO-bought boots, almost made the difference. A Deering free kick was headed just wide by Phil 'The Power' Trainer, and Raynor was lively to cut out a Deering cross that Yemi almost got to. However, that was a good as it got for the Us, who will take little comfort from the fact that Ben Hinchliffe, on for the injured Turley, hardly had a touch of the ball in the second half.

Sam's new boots

Darren Patterson, who must be feeling increasingly under pressure, made a number of changes to both personnel and formation. Turley replaced Hinchliffe in goal, while James Clarke started at left back, with Levi Reid not in the squad. The strike duo of James Constable and Jamie Guy were both on the bench, having not been able to train all week, while Trainer was involved for the first time this season, and lasted the full 90 minutes, and Yemi also started. The first substitution was on 27 minutes, when Hinchliffe replaced Turley, also making his first appearance of the season. At half time, Guy came on for Paul Evans, who was making his home debut, and the shape changed from a kind of 4-3-3 to a more orthodox 4-4-2. Deering came on after an hour, but alas even he was unable to give United the necessary spark to up their game.[@news]2367[/@news][@opponent]crawley town[/@opponent]

The referee today was Russell Fletcher, who has taken charge of Oxford on a couple of previous occasions, most recently the 2-1 win over Stevenage at the end of last season. Mr Fletcher did well to keep his cards in his pocket for most of the game, and tried to let the game flow as much as possible, although sometimes this led to him overlooking certain offences. However, not bad by Conference standards. The attendance was bad, by Oxford standards at any rate, with just 3,992 taking advantage of the lovely sunny weather, and an abysmal 152 making the short journey from Crawley to watch the league leaders.

Oxford have now dropped to fifth from bottom after this latest defeat, getting dangerously close to their lowest ever position as a professional club. Crawley are two points clear at the top. Oxford are above Altrincham on goal difference, Alty having beaten bottom club Lewes 1-0 with an 88th-minute goal. Northwich Victoria are second bottom, level with Lewes on three points, after losing 2-1 at fifth-placed Histon. Third-bottom Woking lost 2-0 at eighth-placed Ebbsfleet United. Grays Athletic climbed above Oxford thanks to their 2-1 win over 12th-placed Wrexham, with both Grays goal coming from their new signing Kieran St Aimee, who spent a month at Oxford last season and never looked like scoring.

Kettering Town are two points behind Crawley after they won 4-2 at rapidly plummeting Barrow, now down to 13th. Salisbury City's 1-1 draw at 10th-placed York City leaves them third, while fourth-placed Mansfield Town were held to a 1-1 draw by sixth-placed Cambridge United. Danny Brown scored the goal for United's next opponents. Kidderminster Harriers have gone seventh after they won 2-1 at 18th-placed Weymouth, with Justin Richards scoring Kiddy's first, and equalising, goal.

Other former Us on the scoresheet today included Chris Hargreaves, who scored Torquay United's second in their 2-0 win over Eastbourne Borough. Rob Wolleaston was on target for Rushden & Diamonds as they beat Burton Albion 2-1, while having new signing Manny Panther sent off. Meanwhile, the Stevenage Borough revival continues apace, as they won their third consecutive game, winning 3-0 at Forest Green Rovers.