Forest Green Rovers 2 Oxford United 1

Oxford United bowed out of the Setanta Shield tonight when a goal by Kaid Mohamed three minutes from the end of extra time gave Forest Green Rovers a barely deserved win at the New Lawn. Andrew Mangan had given the home side the lead after just seven minutes. Eddie Hutchinson equalised for United six minutes after half-time, and after missing several opportunities to take the lead, the Us were eliminated by an excellent shot with penalties looming. [@news]2401[/@news][@opponent]forest green rovers[/@opponent]

Oxford started the game strongly, and it was against the run of play when Mangan scored, after Billy Turley hesitated in closing down the Forest Green striker. United tried to hit back but, despite dominating possession, rarely troubled Terry Burton in the home goal. Burton was quick off his line to deny Lewis Haldane an opportunity, while Turley made a routine save from a Mohamed shot. The first half then settled down into a midfield battle that neither side looked like winning.

Oxford had a reshuffle at half-time, and it paid off just six minutes after the break when Hutchinson got onto the end of a Yemi Odubade cross to head home the equaliser. Jamie Guy then had a couple of glorious chances to give United the lead, first chipping both Burton and the bar when clean through, and then bringing a fine save out of Burton with a firm shot. A comedy moment came when Burton had to scramble away a strong, misdirected, backpass, and then Yemi shot over when he could have done better.

This being a cup game, of sorts, the 1-1 scoreline meant that extra-time was required. Neither side looked like breaking the deadlock, despite a long-range shot from Lee Fowler clearing Turley's bar in the first half, and Guy firing narrowly wide in the second half. Even after Mohamed's winner there was still time for Phil Trainer to smack the ball against the top of the bar, when he had an excellent chance to take the game to penalties, in the second minute of added time. There will be few tears shed by United supporters that they've been eliminated from a cup that most feel is a waste of time and resources, although the club's management will say that it's better to win any game than lose it (especially with some, small, prize money at stake). They're probably right, but we won't pretend to be too sorry that this particular tournament is now out of the way.

Tonight's referee was some bloke who, by all accounts, wasn't too bad. He did show yellow cards to Chrises Carruthers and Willmott, which was rather unkind of him, even if they were both deserved (and we have no comment to make on that matter). The attendance was a somewhat meagre 383, making it the third lowest crowd to have watched United in a competitive first-team fixture since they turned professional in 1949 (that we know of; a lot of games in the early 1950s didn't have their attendances recorded). Home supporters outnumbered Oxford fans by just 135.