Oxford United 2 Accrington Stanley 0

George Dugdale

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Second half goals from James Constable and Peter Leven saw Oxford United into the third round of the FA Cup for the first time in ten years.

Rage Online's 'on this day' feature revealed that United were defeated by Tonbridge Angels five years ago today and during a dreadful first half, this was used as consolation. It wasn't quite that bad.

United, who replaced Tony Capaldi with Liam Davis, lost Adam Chapman to an ankle twist after quarter of an hour.

Constable had a shot deflected behind as it looked to be heading for the bottom corner with the goalkeeper stranded, before Sean Rigg rose highest to nod the ball wide of the left-hand post. That was pretty much as good as it got before the break, aside from a fan near me noticing that the referee looked slightly like the Fat Controller from Thomas the Tank Engine.

The rest of the half was spent watching both sides give the ball away, usually in an aerial fashion.

The man in the middle was at the centre of attention early in the half as a United counter-attack was thwarted by a head injury to a Stanley player. Having criticised Mike Dean for failing to stop the game for a head injury at the weekend, I have to admit that I agreed with his decision. It isn't the place of a referee to diagnose an injured player. Unfortunately, it seems that the Accrington defender wasn't all that injured and it proved to be an efficient way to halt the rapidly advancing Alfie Potter. That is the direction my frown was pointing towards.

United were looking more of a threat as they kicked towards the sparsely populated East Stand and Constable was denied after being released by Potter.

The breakthrough came after 66 minutes as Peter Leven, who had been having a frustrating evening, swung a corner in from the right. James Constable leapt highest in the six yard box to power a header past Paul Rachubka. The goalkeeper on loan from Leeds was unable to dive quite as quickly as when he claimed to be caught by Tom Craddock earlier in the half, much to the home fans' amusement.

Ryan Clarke almost managed to chuck a Lee Molyneux (again, not that one) cross over his line, but was adjudged to have kept the ball the correct side of his goal line.

The worrying prospect of extra-time remained a possibility until the 80th minute when Constable set the ball to one side for Leven to smash home from the edge of the box. The midfielder is clearly not at his best, but a goal and an assist show his value to the side. If Oxford can get him back to his optimum fitness, you suspect he will be all the better for it.

United saw out the remaining minutes with relative ease to secure a tie at home to Sheffield United and received another boost as Michael Duberry returned to action in the latter stages.

It wasn't vintage, but it was a win. With money added for the January sales and an opportunity to progress further assured, it wasn't a bad night's work. Let's agree to never play a first half like that again though?

There was plenty to improve on in terms of the performance and the quality of the pitch on the South Stand side is becoming a worry, but winning is a habit United need to rediscover. Accrington, on the other hand, have twice looked a dreadful side on visits to Grenoble Road.

The referee turned out to be Simon Hooper. Although his decision to halt play for a head injury was correct, much of his evening was spent frustrating the home fans. He got a number of decisions wrong for both teams and didn't always apply to advantage rule in the manner that it was intended. Jake Wright and Liam Davis saw yellow for fouls in dangerous areas, while the wonderfully named Aristote Nsiala was Stanley's only caution.

In the second round replays elsewhere, Bradford were thwarted in extra-time by Brentford, with the hosts running out 4-2 winners. Rotherham shocked Notts County with a 3-0 victory at Meadow Lane.

In the second round tie that was postponed initially, Barrow and Macclesfield drew 1-1.

Attendance: 2,566