Oxford United 2 Rushden & Diamonds 0

Blimey!

Oxford United are now just 90 minutes from a return to the Football League after a fairly comfortable 2-0 win over Rushden & Diamonds at the United Stadium yesterday. Matt Green scored the opener eight minutes into the second half, with James Constable adding the second just four minutes later.

Chris Wilder stuck with the same starting eleven that did so well in the 1-1 draw at Nene Park in the first leg. He made the first substitution ten minutes after the second goal, when Green came off for Alfie Potter. With two minutes of normal time remaining Sam Deering replaced Jack Midson.

The first half was a fairly scrappy affair, not helped by the blustery wind, although the Oxford players looked and played more relaxed than their opponents. The closest Rushden came in the first period was when Paul Terry had a free header from a Mark Byrne corner, but he ballooned it high over the bar. At the other end the closest either side came to scoring was when Dannie Bulman took a couple of touches before firing in a 20-yard shot that had Dale Roberts at full stretch to palm away.

Five minutes into the second half a shot from our old mucker Jefferson Louis forced Ryan Clarke into his first save, and a minute later a free kick from Adam Chapman looked goalbound before it smacked off Green, in an offside position, and bounced wide.

The breakthrough came just two minutes later when Simon Clist played a one-two with Midson before releasing Green with a peach of a pass with the outside of his foot. Green raced away, rounded Roberts and from a narrow angle slotted the ball into the net. The supporters were still celebrating when United increased their lead, ensuring that there were no nervy moments hanging onto a slender lead. A long clearance from Roberts was headed back by Mark Creighton, with Midson flicking the ball over the Rushden defence, breaking a poorly executed offside trap. Constable raced through and slid the ball past the on-rushing Roberts to spark scenes of delirium in the stadium.

Rushden provided little threat thereafter, although Louis had one shot charged down by Constable, while Oxford could have had opportunities to increase the lead if they wanted, but instead chose to pass the ball across the Rushden defence, keeping possession and frustrating the visitors. Oxford were the better team and deserved winners, but a special mention should be made about the excellent support from Rushden, who didn't stop singing even at 2-0 down.

A special mention also to yesterday's match official, Mark Brown, who was excellent. He allowed advantage to Oxford when his assistant was flagging a Rushden player offside in the move that led to United's second goal, and he was generally very lenient with both sets of players and allowed the game to flow. He did show Midson a yellow for persistent fouling, having already spoken to him on a couple of occasions. The attendance of 11,963 included 1,109 from Rushden, and is the largest Conference attendance for a non play-off final.

Oxford's opponents at Wembley on Sunday 16 May will be York City. Holding a 1-0 lead over Luton Town from the first leg, a goal shortly after half-time from Chris Carruthers earned them a 2-0 aggregate win at Kenilworth Road. York became the first team in Conference play-offs to win both legs of a semi-final (and consequently, and more hilariously, Luton became the first side to lose both legs of a Conference play-off semi-final). [@news]2712[/@news][@opponent]rushden & diamonds[/@opponent]