Oxford United 2 Burton Albion 1

There was an eery silence surrounding The United Stadium both before this afternoon's game against Burton Albion and at half time. The power to the ground yesterday morning had been cut due to an electrical fire in the main switch room, but had been restored enough to permit the match to go ahead. However, in order to ensure that there was no repeat, electricity usage around the ground was kept to a minimum, meaning that only the emergency PA system was operational. Therefore there was no music, no team news, no sponsoring of the substitutions by Debt Doctor, no sponsoring of the goals by some Bicester barber, and no scoreboard.

The lack of noise meant that the fans had to generate their own atmosphere, and they were aided in this by an Oxford goal after just nine minutes. The move started with an excellent pass from Phil Trainer to wide-man Lewis Haldane. Haldane charged into the area but saw his initial shot blocked, however he was first to the rebound and he crossed low for Trainer to Power home. Oxford continued to look for openings, and almost found one midway through the half when ROS Sam Deering, making his first start for United, skipped through three challenges before shooting narrowly wide. Burton began to have a bit more of the play after this, and Billy Turley had to save from Lee Morris. Chris Carruthers then demonstrated what a good defender he is by getting back to block a shot from Aaron Webster after he had raced through clear on goal.

The second half was just four minutes old when United scored again. James Constable slipped on the edge of the Burton area, recovered and was tripped by Ryan Austin. Constable himself beat Kevin Poole from the resulting spot kick. United were now playing mainly on the counter, but the pace of Jamie Guy, Yemi Odubade, and Haldane was causing a lot of problems for the Albion back line. Guy raced clear but shot narrowly wide, and Yemi went close after using his magnificent pace to charge down an attempted clearance. In the final minute of normal time the referee harshly adjudged Matty Taylor to have fouled on the edge of the area, and Webster's shot beat the wall and Turley to halve the deficit. United rode out the four minutes of added time to secure their third consecutive impressive home win.

Darren Patterson used the opportunity of injury to captain Joe Burnell to give Deering his first start, and he lasted the full 90 minutes, giving an inspirational performance. Constable started ahead of Yemi, while Turley was given the captain's armband. The first substitution was on 73 minutes, when Yemi replaced Guy. Ten minutes later Taylor came on for Haldane.

Today's referee was Paul Tierney, who took charge of United's 1-0 win at Stafford Rangers last March. He gave a particularly hapless performance this afternoon, getting a number of contentious decisions wrong, being inconsistent with his decisions, and bottling one booking that would have seen Burton reduced to ten players. He showed yellow cards to Luke Foster and Barry Quinn, with that challenge that Quinn was penalised for being particularly innocuous. Today's attendance was a healthy 4,494, of whom 4,221 were cheering on the Yellows. This was especially good considering the difficulties faced by the ticket office yesterday following the fire.

The three points lifted United just one place, to 18th, while Burton drop to sixth. Lewes have dropped back to the bottom of the table after being beaten 3-2 at home by Northwich Victoria, who are now third bottom. Grays Athletic have slipped below Northwich after they were held 1-1 by Woking, who are fifth from bottom. Fourth from bottom are Forest Green Rovers, who drew 2-2 with third-placed Cambridge United last night, with Wayne Hatswell scoring one of Cambridge's goals. Eastbourne Borough are 19th after they lost 3-1 at 15th-placed Barrow. Karleigh Osborne scored Eastbourne's very late consolation.[@news]2390[/@news][@opponent]burton albion[/@opponent]

Kettering Town are the new leaders of the Conference, thanks to John Dempster's goal that beat seventh-placed Kidderminster Harriers. Crawley Town have dropped to second following their 1-0 defeat at Histon, who are now fourth. Torquay United are now fifth after their 2-0 win at 15th-placed Ebbsfleet United.

Wrexham came out on top in the battle between last season's relegated clubs, winning 2-1 at 14th-placed Mansfield Town to go eighth. Stevenage Borough climbed to ninth after beating 17th-placed Salisbury City 2-0, the same score by which 11th-placed Weymouth beat 13th-placed Altrincham. Tenth-placed York City, United's next Conference opponents, also won 2-0, against Rushden & Diamonds in 12th place.

Next Saturday United face Hayes & Yeading in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round. They have now slipped to fifth in the Conference South after being held 3-3 at ninth-placed Eastleigh.