George Dugdale

Oxford United's play-off charge suffered a blow with a late defeat at Sixfields. Brett Williams' late strike gave the Cobblers all three points, after Cristian Montano had cancelled out Luke Guttridge's early opener.

Michael Duberry returned to the Oxford side after injury, replacing Andy Whing at centre-half. Jon-Paul Pittman returned to the bench after a lengthy injury lay-off.

After conceding early against Morecambe in their last outing, Chris Wilder's men would have been keen to keep things tight early on against a Northampton side who have become a formidable prospect under Aidy Boothroyd. However, the hosts were ahead only a minute into the game. Adebayo Akinfenwa hooked the ball over the top for Guttridge, who turned inside Jake Wright to bend home a fine opener. After his equaliser at Grenoble Road for Aldershot earlier in the season, United will be glad to see the back of the tenacious midfielder. Unfortunately, this wasn't the last impact Guttridge would make on the game.

Northampton are a different proposition to the side that played Oxford earlier in the season and could have doubled their lead soon after as Akinfenwa was denied from close range by Ryan Clarke. United's stopper also had to be alert to deny the impressive Michael Jacobs.

United's full-backs were being caused problems by the direct running of Jacobs and Liverpool loanee Toni Silva, but a second goal wasn't forthcoming and the visitors began to get a foothold in the game.

Oxford suffered a blow quarter of an hour in as Northampton's Portuguese winger collided with Peter Leven. The Scottish midfielder came off worse in the full-blooded (but fair) challenge and left the field in serious discomfort.

Andy Whing came into the midfield as his replacement and offered the United defence some added protection after a tricky start. Dean Morgan and Cristian Montano began to grow into the game and the latter's rasping drive was parried wide by Northampton goalkeeper Neal Kitson.

United built some momentum before the break, but were unable to draw level as the referee waved away Adam Champman's penalty appeals after a surging run.

The Oxford team that emerged for the second half were a totally different proposition to the one who had been outfought in the first half and nearly drew level as Michael Duberry met Morgan's deep cross. Although Kitson appeared to know little about it, he got enough of his leg in the path of the ball to maintain Northampton's lead.

The momentum was building, however, and United got the equaliser their early pressed merited after 51 minutes. Scott Rendell held the ball up well, before feeding Montano. The West Ham loanee twisted one way and then the other, before firing low into the corner of the net to send the Oxford fans behind the goal into delirium.

Things could have been so much better moments later as United had a chance to take control of the game from the penalty spot. Adam Chapman raced onto Montano's clever backheel, before being tripped by a stray leg. Chapman took responsibility himself, but his spot-kick was met by Kitson who spread himself to save to his right.

The game's major talking point arrived with 15 minutes to go and it wasn't pretty. Liam Davis' firm challenge provoked an angry reaction from Guttridge, who appeared to clearly stamp on the prone full-back. Other United players reacted angrily, whilst a number of Northampton players charged in to protect their man. After lengthy deliberation, the referee and his assistants decided that Guttridge's actions merited only a yellow card. It's very rare that a moment of controversy provokes such a specific chant, but as the Oxford fans let the officials know, it really did appear that 'he stamped on his face'.

United were still looking the more likely to take the lead and both Duberry and Montano lifted headers over the bar when well placed. However, a failure to make the most of chances at this level is so often punished and this was the case once more.

The Oxford backline failed to deal with a simple long ball, allowing Williams to cut in from the left and fizz a low shot into the corner of Clarke's goal from range. Northampton fans were on the pitch, United players were on the floor and in the away stand heads were in hands.

There was still time for Michael Duberry to pick up his second booking of the evening for a late challenge that symbolised the frustration felt by the big defender, although he was possibly too far down the tunnel to see the referee flash his cards.

This was always going to be a tough fixture for Oxford United, but the nature of defeat was hard to take. Although the first half had done little to excite, the second half performance was hugely encouraging and it would have been difficult to say that United hadn't merited a winner, if it had arrived. Unfortunately, Oxford made the short journey home with nothing to show for their efforts. The run-in is not going to be easy and a play-off place is far from guaranteed. Now is the time to get behind the team as we see what this squad is really made of…