Oxford were unlucky to lose a fairly even game at the KasStad this evening, and eventually only succumbed to high-flying Swansea after Jon Ashton was harshly sent off for two yellow cards. From the free kick that resulted Mark Goodfellow headed home the only goal of the game, just past the hour mark. Swansea had the better chances to score, with Chris Tardif saving well from Lee Trundle, while Lee Bradbury went close after exchanging passes with Jamie Brooks, but Willy Gueret blocked his shot.

Caretaker manager Darren Patterson, whose chances of getting the job permanently won’t have been helped by this defeat, kept an unchanged line-up from the one that beat Chester ten days ago. After Ashton’s dismissal on the hour, Paul Wanless dropped back into the back four, and ten minutes later Brooks came on for Mark E’Beyer. Five minutes later a tiring Tommy Mooney was replaced by Craig Davies, and Patterson’s final throw of the dice came with four minutes to go, with Chris Hackett coming on for Wanless.

The referee was Paul Danson, who last darkened our door over two and a half years ago, when he took charge of a 2-1 defeat at Carlisle. Danson was petty and officious, whistle-happy and, crucially, often wrong. As early as the 4th minute he booked Matt Robinson for an inconsequential challenge on Adrian Forbes, having already allowed a similar tackle by Andrew Gurney on Steve Basham to go uncautioned. Then five minutes into the second half he bizarrely booked Ashton, ostensibly for having his shirt pulled by Kevin Nugent. This meant that when Ashton rather foolishly blocked Forbes’ run, just ten minutes later, he had to produce a yellow card. Danson also booked Gurney, eventually, and former Oxford loanee Gary Monk. The attendance was 4,767. We will consider publishing a match report tomorrow.

United stay fifth from bottom after this defeat, all the teams below them also losing. Kidderminster stay bottom after going down 2-1 at third-placed Yeovil, with Cambridge four points above them after their 2-1 home defeat by top of the table Scunthorpe, who scored both their goals in the final three minutes. Third from bottom Shrewsbury went down 2-0 at home to Rochdale, while Rushden lost 1-0 at Boston this evening. Swansea are back up to second in the table.

Also last night Macclesfield stayed 4th after beating 6th-placed Lincoln 2-1, with Orient fifth after drawing 2-2 at home to Southend, with Andy Scott getting the Os’ equaliser. Darlington moved into the play-off places with a 2-1 win over Mansfield. Chester are just one place above Oxford after they lost 4-1 at Bristol Rovers, while Notts County, for whom Gavin Gordon scored, are one place further up after losing 3-2 at Grimsby. Bury and Wycombe drew 2-2, while Northampton and Cheltenham also drew, 1-1.

In the Conference Manny Omoyinmi scored Gravesend’s second as they came back from two down to draw 2-2 with Farnborough. Jefferson Louis scored his first goal for his new club, Woking, who won 2-0 at Stevenage Borough.