The season came crashing down around Oxford United's ears this evening, as the Us crumbled to their second home defeat of the season, going down 1-0 to Weymouth.[@news]2254[/@news][@opponent]weymouth[/@opponent] After the misplaced euphoria surrounding Oxford's demolition of Altrincham on Saturday, it was always likely to be a different story against a much-better prepared Terras side. United weren't helped by a hamstring injury to new striker Craig McAllister, who limped off after 32 minutes throwing the side's game plan into disarray. In difficult, windy conditions, the loss of McAllister led to an increasingly desperate Us side making too many mistakes to create any chances worthy of the name. Weymouth did have a massive assist from the referee, who awarded them a corner six minutes before half time, despite the ball clearly coming off a Weymouth player last. It was from the corner that the ball dropped invitingly for Gavin McCallum to prod home from a yard out. By this time both sides had already hit the bar, Scott Doe heading against the Oxford woodwork from a free kick after quarter of an hour, and Alex Jeannin hitting the frame of the Weymouth goal direct from a free kick awarded for the foul that led to McAllister's departure.

In the second half Oxford went all out for an equaliser, which did leave them vulnerable to the counter attack. However, despite one excellent move involving James Clarke and Alex Fisher that ended with Fisher shooting wide, Jason Matthews in the Terras goal was rarely troubled. And so United fell to their first home defeat since losing 3-2 to Aldershot on 15 September, by conceding their first home league goal since the 3-3 draw with Torquay United on 11 October, to an injury-ravaged Weymouth side that had lost six of their last seven games, but who certainly deserved something out of the game for their resilient rearguard performance and for riding their luck.

Darren Patterson made just one change to the team that beat Altrincham, recalling captain Barry Quinn in place of Michael Corcoran. When McAllister went off he was replaced by Carl Pettefer, who went wide right, with Yemi Odubade going up front to partner Rob Duffy, and Joel Ledgister moving to the left wing. This was, in our opinion, a mistake, as Ledgister is ineffective on the left and thus United lost their width. A straight replacement in Fisher would have also allowed United to retain their option of Ledgister and Yemi swapping wings, as they did to such good effect on Saturday. Eight minutes after the break, Ledgister was replaced by Fisher as United went 4-3-3, but without the width provided by the wingers, precious few chances were created for the strikers. Eight minutes later, Clarke came on for Matt Day who, apart from his long throws, didn't really bring anything to the table.

Tonight's referee was Andy Hendley, who was also in charge of Oxford's 0-0 draw with Woking in October. Apart from the corner incident, he wasn't the best referee we've seen at the ground, although by no means the worst either. Just middling incompetence. He showed a yellow card to Luke Foster, although Adam Murray can consider himself fortunate to escape punishment for a late challenge. The attendance of 3,996 was slightly better than Saturday's, but is still the second-lowest crowd to watch Conference football at Grenoble Road. It included 72 Weymouth fans.

United remain in 12th place, mainly because there was only one other Conference fixture played tonight, while Weymouth remain sixth from bottom. In the other fixture, Altrincham came from a goal down to beat Kidderminster Harriers 2-1, in front of just 788 spectators. This win lifts Alty above Farsley Celtic and out of the relegation zone, while Kiddy remain 11th.