The last floodlit league match at the Vetch ended with Swansea beating United 1-0, thanks to a goal from Kristian O’Leary a minute before half-time. Swansea also had two other ‘goals’ disallowed, and were generally the superior team, although Oxford were never overwhelmed and came close to scoring themselves through Chris Hackett and Steve Basham. United’s cause wasn’t helped by Mateo Corbo, picking up his 9th and 10th bookings of the season, culminating in the inevitable red card twenty minutes from time.

There was only one change in the starting line-up from the side that beat Notts County last Saturday, with captain Lee Bradbury recalled for the rested Tommy Mooney. Bradbury played on the left wing, with Hackett partnering Basham up front. Twenty minutes into the second half Craig Davies came on for Emiliano Diaz, with Davies going up front and Hackett moving to the right wing. Just a minute later Lucas Cominelli was replaced by Amine Karam. With 12 minutes remaining Chris Tardif received a knock and so Brady Clarke came on for his first game since Boxing Day.

Tonight’s referee was Kevin Friend, who has now taken charge of three Oxford games this season, and the Us have lost them all (the others were at Lincoln and home to Kidderminster). As well as following the refereeing tradition of awarding Corbo a yellow card, in fact taking it further than previous refs by doubling it, he also booked Dave Mackay and Barry Quinn for good measure. Arguably Corbo’s first yellow was actually deserved. The attendance of 10,602 was the largest that United have played in front of this season. A match report may be posted over the weekend, although it would be nice if someone who was at the game could send one in.

United have dropped one place to 13th, while the Swans have climbed to third. Tonight’s other game saw a surprise win for Leyton Orient, who beat Scunthorpe 1-0 at Glanford Park to go above United to 11th. Oxford could conceivably drop a further three places tomorrow, should Cheltenham beat Northampton, Boston win at Rushden, and Bristol Rovers win at Chester.