Oxford United lost their unbeaten home record this afternoon, to Aldershot Town, who maintained their 100 per cent away record.[@news]2182[/@news][@opponent]aldershot[/@opponent] The final scoreline of 3-2 to the visitors reflects the exciting nature of the game, that saw the Shots storm into a 2-0 half-time lead, only to be pegged back by United after just ten minutes of the second period. Oxford should have gone on to win the match but, as has happened so often this season, United failed to take their chances. They were then undone by a sucker punch, involving the poor defending of a corner that was a characteristic of last season.

It was suicidal defending that led to Aldershot opening the scoring, after just quarter of an hour. A corner was floated over and Arthur Gnohere for some reason put his hand up and palmed the ball away. John Grant calmly converted the resulting penalty. Fifteen minutes later Aldershot almost doubled their lead, when Louis Soares received the ball unchallenged on the edge of the penalty area, but his shot came off the base of the post and was cleared. Marvin Robinson had a golden opportunity to equalise for United as he burst clear of the Shots' defence, but he elected to shoot straight at Nikki Bull. The home side were left to rue this miss just a couple of minutes later, when Aldershot burst past the static Oxford defence, with Michael Corcoran left standing, and a cross fell for Grant, who was able to take the ball wide of Billy Turley and shoot home.

United started the second half in storming style, and pulled a goal back within a minute of the restart. Yemi Odubade released Eddie Anaclet down the right. Eddie cut inside and crossed to the far post, where Alex Jeannin sidefooted home his first goal for the club. Ten minutes later and the sides were level, after Robinson flicked on a Matt Day throw for Paul Shaw to gather and slot the ball past Bull. The United fans, including the Ultimate Yellows in the North Stand, were now the ones making all the noise, and they could and should have taken the lead with 15 minutes to go when Robinson had another one-on-one with Bull following a fantastic pass from Shaw. Unfortunately, it had the same result as his first, similar, chance, and as before, Oxford were made to pay for the miss. A swift Shots' break was cleared for a corner, which was floated to the far post where the unmarked Lewis Chalmers headed home.

Jim Smith made two changes to the side that drew at Grays Athletic in midweek. Yemi and Eddie Hutchinson were dropped to the bench, while Robinson and Rob Duffy both started up front. A more ponderous attacking duo has rarely been seen. However, all was changed when Smith made a double substitution at half time, injecting some pace into the side with the introductions of Yemi, for Duffy, and Anaclet for the unfortunate Gnohere, with Day moving from his role as alleged wingback to his more familiar position in the centre. With three minutes to go, Hutch came on for Robinson, with Shaw moving up front from his midfield position.

Today's referee was Oli Langford, whose performance was far from convincing. He showed a yellow card to Gnohere for conceding the penalty, and also showed a yellow to Turley for being bundled over by an Aldershot player. The attendance was 5,811, which is United's (and therefore the Conference's) biggest of the season so far. Of those, 902 were from the military garrison in Hampshire.

The dropped points mean that United have dropped one place to seventh, but they've played a game more than most of the teams above and around them. Aldershot have climbed back up to second, one point behind new leaders Stevenage Borough, who won 2-0 at York City, who remain fifth from bottom. Torquay United beat Halifax 3-1 last night, with Tim Sills scoring their second goal. Cambridge United are fourth after they beat sixth-bottom Crawley 2-1, with Rob Wolleaston scoring their winning goal.[@player]sills, tim[/@player][@player]wolleaston, rob[/@player] Burton Albion are fifth, despite being held to a goalless draw at 18th-placed Rushden & Diamonds, while Exeter City climbed back above Oxford into sixth place thanks to a 2-0 win at Farsley Celtic.

At the bottom of the table, Northwich Victoria remain rooted to the foot after losing 3-1 at home to Histon, United's next opponents, on Thursday. Stafford Rangers' 2-0 home defeat by Grays leaves them occupying the penultimate place, with Grays going up to eighth. Droylsden remain third from bottom after they lost 3-1 at home to Weymouth, and Altrincham are still fourth from bottom after losing 2-0 at Woking. The biggest score of the day came in Kent, where Ebbsfleet United astonishingly beat Kidderminster Harriers 5-4, with James Constable scoring a hat trick for Kiddy.