United were held to a goalless draw at Cheltenham last night, the first time this season that the Us have feiled to score. In a scrappy game of few chances United’s best spell came about five minutes before half-time, when two excellent saves from Shane Higgs kept the home side level. First he saved a Steve Basham shot and then, from the resultant corner, he flung himself across the goal to keep out a Derek Townsley header. On their first half performance United would have deserved the lead, but in the second period the Us reverted to the scrappy long-ball rubbish that we had to endure for most of last season.

Ian Atkins made just one change from the side the drew with Mansfield, bringing in Dean Whitehead for Danny Brown. In the 74th minute James Hunt came on for Derek Townsley and, just one minute later, Andy Scott replaced Mark Rawle. With three minutes remaining the Rage On sponsored Chris Hackett was brought into the action in place of a limping Basham. There was some delay before this substitution could be made as for some reason Hackett was wearing Dave Waterman’s shirt! Jefferson Louis, recalled from Woking, didn’t even make the bench.

Referee Andy Hall had a mixed game, blowing his whistle (presumably) for some offences while letting others that looked more serious go unpunished. He showed a yellow card to Rawle for what looked like a decent tackle and with five minutes to go he sent off Michael Duff for a cynical bodycheck on Whitehead. However he only showed a yellow card to Mark Yates who appeared to throw a punch at Scott McNiven in the ensuing mel?e. The attendance was 5,319. A match report will be posted this evening (probably).

Having only taken two points from the last two games United have now dropped down to second in the table. Swansea have gone back to the top following their 3-0 win over Macclesfield. Hull were unable to take advantage of United’s slip-up, only being able to draw 1-1 at Orient, while Yeovil move up to fourth after winning 1-0 at Doncaster, United’s opponents on Saturday. Mansfield are fifth after beating Bury 5-3, but Bristol Rovers have dropped down to sixth after losing 2-1 at Torquay, who have moved up to seventh.

Carlisle remain rooted to the foot of the table after going down 2-0 at Northampton, and Southend’s 2-0 home defeat by Lincoln sees them drop into the relegation zone. Kidderminster are now starting to struggle after going down 2-0 at home to Scunthorpe. Rochdale drew 1-1 with Huddersfield, while early pace-setters York City could only draw 1-1 at home to Darlington. Cambridge United play Boston tonight.