The city of Oxford awoke this morning to be greeted by the kind of scenes normally reserved for the most twee and commercial of christmas cards, with the result that the only balls likely to be pinging around Minchery Farm this evening will be the ones thrown by the local youth, and containing the prefix ‘snow’ (bear with us, it gets better, honest). Referee Ray Olivier inspected the pitch at lunchtime and declared it to be unplayable, and so this evening’s scheduled tie against Macclesfield has been rearranged for Wednesday April 6th. This evening’s other fourth division tie, between Boston and Notts County has also been called off.

Last night most of the fourth division fixtures survived the weather, only Northampton’s visit to Rochdale being postponed. After the games Oxford remained in 15th place, but now lie seven points off the play-offs. League leaders Yeovil consolidated their position with a 4-3 win over second-placed Scunthorpe, coming back from a 2-1 half-time deficit to go five points clear at the top. Tonight’s erstwhile opponents Macclesfield went third without even playing, thanks to Swansea’s 2-1 defeat at Darlington. This result leveled the Swans’ and the Silkmen’s goal difference, but Macc having scored more goals go about the Welshmen. Darlington moved into the final play-off position with 51 points. Southend are now 5th after their 1-0 win over 19th-placed Shrewsbury, while Lincoln’s 1-1 draw at Orient keeps the Red Imps in 6th place and moves Orient up one to 13th.

At the foot of the table, United’s opponents this Saturday (weather permitting), Cambridge United, beat United’s opponents from last Saturday, Cheltenham, 1-0 at the Abbey. This saw the Robins drop to 10th, and moves Cambridge to just one point behind Kidderminster, who drew 1-1 with Bristol Rovers, now 16th. Mark Rawle, having joined the Harriers on a one-month loan deal, didn’t feature for Kiddy. Third-bottom Rushden did their chances of survival a lot of good with three first-half goals against 18th-placed Bury, to win 3-0 and increase the gap to seven points above the drop-zone. Chester remained 4th from bottom after losing 1-0 at 17th-placed Grimsby, while at the other end Wycombe moved up to 8th following their emphatic 4-1 win at 12th-placed Mansfield.

In the second division, Dean Whitehead scored Sunderland’s first goal in their 4-1 drubbing of Rotherham, and Dexter Blackstock scored his first goal for Plymouth as they beat Sheffield United 3-0.