What's the point?

United went back to the Potteries and received a footballing lesson from Stoke City this evening, eventually thankful to keep the scoreline down to just 4-0. The U's held out until the 21st minute before former United triallist Steffan Thordarsson scored the opener. Two goals from Bjarni Gudjonsson and James O'Connor followed in the first half and debutant Marvin Robinson rounded off the scoring in the second half. Jimmy Glass made his United debut in place of the injured Richard Knight and was largely responsible for ensuring that the scoreline was kept down to four. Ian McGuckin was recalled to the defence in place of the injured Jon Shepheard, Dean Whitehead replaced Lee Jarman and Manny Omoyinmi recovered to replace Derek Lilley, United starting with a 4-5-1 formation. Neil McGowan was injured and replaced by Rob Folland early in the game, and at halftime Jarman came on in place of Matt Murphy. It was too late by the time that Steve Anthrobus was substituted for Lilley. Jon Richardson and McGuckin were booked for United by Clive Wilkes in front of a fuel-affected attendance of 9,600. A match report has miraculously appeared here.

Firoz flying

All external obstacles now appear to have been removed in blocking a restart at Minchery Farm. A potential last-minute hitch was averted after three Councillors objected to the extensive use of glass fronting at the new leisure centre, planning permission for which was granted on Friday morning, which could have led to further delays should the matter needed to have gone to a full Council meeting. However, following informal discussions between the Councillors involved and the development's architect an agreement was reached and the matter was resolved. Firoz Kassam has now stated that he anticipates Barr to be back on site early next week.

Kassam also stated on Radio Oxford this evening that he has held talks with Denis Smith with a view to strengthening the team. Kassam stopped short of explicitly stating that there was money available for new players, but did say that he had asked Smith to consider his options and that new players would be coming in. The implication of this is that it will be Smith in charge of bringing in the new players, which might be counter-productive.