Oxford United gave a superb team performance as they overcame a strong Aldershot side 2-0 this afternoon, with Andy Burgess scoring both goals late in the second half. United started brightly and had the visiting defence back-pedalling on a couple of occasions before Chris Hargreaves got on the end of a Rufus Brevett cross, but his header came off the bar. The Us had a number of other half-chances, while Billy Turley had a fairly quiet first half, although he had to be alert to stop a Joel Grant shot five minutes before the break. Just before half-time Ryan Williams blasted wide from just a few yards out.

The second half began as a fairly even contest, with neither side creating much. Midway through the half, the tide started to change as United turned the screw (if we may be permitted to mix our metaphors. Nikki Bull did well to save a Carl Pettefer shot, and Eddie Anaclet was denied by a late tackle before Curtis Osanu barged Yemi Odubade off the ball in the area and United were awarded a penalty, their eighth of the season. Rob Duffy had already gone off, so up stepped Burgess to blast his first ever senior penalty well to Bull’s left to open the scoring. Ten minutes later, Burgess blocked a Rhys Day clearance and charged through on goal. With just Bull to beat, Burgess composed himself and clipped the ball past the retreating goalie to ensure United collected all the points. This was an accomplished performance from United, with Burgess and Pettefer both shining, but our Man of the Match was undoubtably Barry Quinn, who had a stormer.

Jim Smith made two changes to the side that won at Dagenham in the FA Cup last weekend. The enforced change was the recall of new father Chris Willmott, to replace the suspended Matt Day. The other change was to start with Yemi, Bash being left on the bench. However, it was the introduction of Bash for Rob Duffy on 66 minutes that swung the game in United’s favour. With 13 minutes left Gavin Johnson came on for his first match since his injury against St Albans, over two months ago, replacing his replacement, Rufus Brevett. The final substitution came in the final minute, as Ed Hutchinson came on for Yemi.

Today’s referee was T Ward, who was also in charge of our live TV game at Crawley earlier this season. He had a fairly competent game, relatively speaking, and his booking of Chris Hargreaves was probably justified, for persistent fouling if not his hairstyle. The attendance was a rather respectable 8,185, of whom 950 were squaddies or commuters. This is the fourth highest crowd in the history of the Conference, and United have signalled their intent to try and break the record (9,432 at Lincoln v Wycombe in 1988) at their Boxing Day encounter against Woking. This will require a lot more home supporters to attend, as Woking are unlikely to bring anything like the numbers that Aldershot brought today. We hope to publish a match report tomorrow or shortly thereafter, and have wisely not listened to any promises (not that anyone has made any) after we were let down for the Dagenham report.

The win broke the previous record for the longest unbeaten league run for United in a single season, and also keeps United five points clear of Dagenham & Redbridge, who won 3-2 at Rushden today. Weymouth remain third, despite losing 2-0 at Stafford Rangers, a result that leaves the Terras ten points behind the Us. Burton are fourth after beating Stevenage 2-1 last night, while Exeter are fifth after they won 2-0 at Woking. Gravesend dropped to sixth after they lost 1-0 at Morecambe, who have gone seventh.

St Albans are the latest team to prop up the league, after they lost 2-1 at Crawley, who have climbed to 22nd. Southport moved off the bottom after beating Tamworth, United’s next Conference opponents in two weeks, 1-0, which leaves Tamworth fourth from bottom. Cambridge United are just above them after they drew 1-1 at Grays Athletic, while Forest Green Rovers are 19th after they drew 2-2 at Kidderminster. United’s opponents next week, Wycombe Wanderers, drew 0-0 at Shrewsbury.