Oxford United squeezed into the second round of the FA Trophy with a narrow 1-0 win at home to Lewes FC[@opponent]Lewes FC[/@opponent] this evening. The goal came just before the half-hour mark, with Rob Duffy scoring from the penalty spot after Steve Robinson had brought down Marvin Robinson. Up until that point United had huffed and puffed in the strong wind, but had been unable to blow Lewes's house down.[@news]2042[/@news] Indeed, the major disappointment was that Oxford hadn't even forced diminutive debutant 16-year old youth team keeper Jack Adams into a save. Despite the goal advantage, and having plenty of possession, this remained the case throughout the match.

In the second half Oxford showed more attacking intent, but Adams still had little to do, although United looked more willing to shoot, despite almost all their efforts failing to find the target. The best chances fell to Yemi Odubade, who snatched his shot well wide after a strong run after he'd been set free by Robinson, and Duffy, who was on hand for a Yemi cross after Odubade had been released by an excellent pass from Eddie Odhiambo-Anaclet, but who was fouled as he was poised to shoot, although the referee refused United a second penalty, as he did minutes later when Robinson was similarly taken out.

Jim Smith made changes to both personnel and formation for this match, returning to the 4-4-2 that he'd used in the initial match against Lewes.[@news]613[/@news] John Dempster came into the side as a right back, alongside Barry Quinn, who was awarded the captain's armband in Phil Gilchrist's absence. Matt Day replaced the injured Gilly, with Rufus Brevett at right back. Yemi started on the right wing, with Carl Pettefer and Gavin Johnson forming the central midfield, and Andy Burgess wide on the left. This left a front pair of Duffy and Robinson, making his first start since the match at Crawley on 18 September. At half time Anaclet came on for Burgess, who was apparently feeling sick after suffering a knock, with Dempster moving into midfield and Fast Eddie replacing him at right back. So, what did we learn from this? We found out that Dempster is a better defender than he is a midfielder. We discovered that Matt Day's distribution is non-existent. We saw that Quinn can be immense in defence, and a fine substitute captain. We also had the choice to play Yemi on the right wing sort of vindicated, with some excellent wing play interspersed with periods of him looking lost and divorced from the play. However, his pace was missed from the attack, where both Duffy and Robinson held the ball up well and were strong, but who had little attacking support from the midfield.

This evening's referee was Simon Hooper, who officiated like a true Wiltshireman. He constantly ruined the flow of the match with his whistle blowing, frequently for petty fouls or minimal contact, while bottling some big decisions. Fortunately the penalty that he did award was so blatant that there was no way he could have waved play on. He showed yellow cards to Robinson and Day for fouls, while offering very little protection to Yemi or Burgess, both of whom came in for very rough treatment from the Conference South side. Today's attendance was 2,194, of whom just 86 made the trip from East Sussex. This is the 15th lowest attendance for a United home game since the side turned professional in 1949 (bearing in mind that there are no records for many of the earlier Southern League matches). There will be no match report.

The win means that United now have a home game on Saturday, as they face Halifax in the second round.[@news]614[/@news] Today's other FA Trophy replay, between Tamworth and Altrincham, was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. Elsewhere in the Conference, Weymouth have dismissed manager Garry Hill and all his backroom staff, and transfer-listed all their players as they face financial ruin after trying to pay for a promotion-chasing side on unsustainable attendances.