United's first visit to The Raymond McEnhill Stadium was an unhappy one, as they woefully underperformed and allowed an ordinary Salisbury City side to inflict the same kind of damage as Northwich Victoria, Histon, and Droylsden did earlier in the season.[@news]2256[/@news][@opponent]salisbury city[/@opponent] United started well, and after a couple of minutes Carl Pettefer's snap shot from the edge of the area drifted just wide. However, the home side came back strongly and 20 minutes in Matt Tubbs spooned a shot over the bar from just four yards out as the Oxford defence was breached for the first time. A few minutes later Yemi Odubade shot just over after being released by Rob Duffy, and the signs were promising as United weren't looking like the shot-shy side they have been recently. However, on half an hour all the good work was undone from a goal sloppily conceded by Billy Turley, who came charging out to the edge of his area to punch clear a cross. However, Turley got nowhere near either the ball or the man, and Oli Barnes' header trickled into the goal, where Turley should have been standing had the blood not rushed to his head. Elvis is dead, Billy, come to terms with it. Two minutes before the break, Marvin Brown was first to pounce on a partially cleared free kick, and his shot beat Turley in off the post.

United started the second half on the back foot, as Salisbury pushed forward to put the game beyond doubt. A right-wing cross to the far post was caught on the volley by Tubbs, but Turley flung himself to his right to block superbly, and partially redeem himself for his earlier error. It was then Oxford's turn to attack, as Barry Quinn sliced a shot well wide, and then Alex Fisher headed over from a Carl Pettefer cross. With 13 minutes to go Oxford finally made a breakthrough as Yemi decided the only way that they were going to score was by him doing it on his own, so he charged down the right wing, cut inside, and slipped the ball beneath the advancing Ryan Clarke to halve the deficit. The Oxford fans' joy was short lived, however, as less than a minute later the Us were two goals down again, as Brown's shot was blocked by Luke Foster and the ball looped high over Turley and dropped unluckily into the net. United had further chances to score again, as Clarke dived to his right to push aside a goal-bound Fisher header, and then Adam Murray hit the post with an excellent curling free kick from the left wing after Yemi had been brought down. However, any second goal would merely have been a consolation as United again failed to live up to their reputation.

Darren Patterson made two personnel changes to the side that lost to Weymouth on Tuesday. James Clarke replaced Matt Day at right back, while Michael Corcoran partnered Foster at the back, with Quinn playing in midfield, in place of Joel Ledgister. With United trailling 2-0 at half time, Patto made a double substitution, as Ben Weedon came on for Alex Jeannin, and Fisher replaced Phil Trainer, with Yemi moving to the wing, where he has been more effective recently. Eight minutes into the second half, Eddie Hutchinson replaced Duffy, and went up front to partner Fisher. To be fair, he didn't do badly there at all, and looked more effective in attack than he ever has in midfield.

Today's referee was R Whitton, who was taking charge of United for the first time. Oxford will be hoping that it will also be the last time, as the official proved to be petty, officious, and not particularly even-handed in his decision making. Of the six Oxford players he booked, incurring a fine for the club, only the ones awarded to Murray and Clarke looked to be worth a caution. He also booked Corcoran for obstruction, Duffy for jumping for a header, Yemi for wearing a blue shirt, and Quinn for being Irish. Not a clever man. The attendance was 2,016, including 647 in the away end, which is Salisbury's second highest of the season so far.

This was the only game played today in the Conference, and the defeat sees United drop one place to 14th. However, they have played 27 games, which is one or two games more than most of the sides around them. The win for Salisbury sees them leap up to 10th. Oxford's next game is a week tomorrow, when they visit Exeter City for a Sunday evening game live on Setanta. Today, the Grecians lost 3-0 at Rushden & Diamonds in the FA Trophy second round, with Andy Burgess scoring Rushden's second goal. Other notable Trophy results include AFC Wimbledon's 4-0 thrashing of Tonbridge, who knocked Oxford out in the first round, and Chris Hargreaves scoring both goals as Torquay United won 2-1 at Newport County.