Oxford United 1 Yeovil Town 0

Well, Yeovil came to Oxford, raised their game, but in the end class told and the better side strolled through to the second round of the FA Cup, sponsored by Eeyore. Jack Midson's sublime lob, ten minutes after half-time, was enough to earn United the win and a potentially lucrative tie in tomorrow's draw.

There were no goals in the first half, but no lack of entertainment either as United kept the visitors in their own half for large chunks of the play. The pace of Andrew Welsh had Damian Batt backpeddling on occasion, but the final delivery was generally poor and Ryan Clarke only had one save to make, when Spurs loanee Ryan Mason drilled in a shot from 20 yards that Clarke covered all the way. At the other end Luke Foster was on the end of a couple of set pieces that went narrowly over, while the endeavour of Matt Green, James Constable, and Midson troubled the Yeovil defence on several occasions. Just before half time Constable's low cross was turned goalwards by Midson, but it was straight at Richard Martin.

Dannie Bulman almost got on the end of another Constable cross at the start of the second half, and the goal wasn't long in coming. Batt won the ball midway in the Oxford half and fed Adam Murray. He was closed down quickly but did well to get the ball forward to Green, who turned, controlled the ball and fed Midson, who reached the ball before Martin and the covering defender and lobbed the ball into the net. As Yeovil pressed for an equaliser United sat back ever deeper, and there was consternation that they were sitting too deep, although occasional Oxford breaks could have proved deadly. Mark Creighton and Luke Foster defended resolutely, winning everything in the air and blocking shots and making clean tackles all afternoon. Steven Kinniburgh was left exposed occasionally, but his teammates covered superbly and there was, in truth, little danger from the side that, in League Table terms only, is two divisions above United. Yeovil had a couple of decent chances towards the end, but either put the ball wide or straight at Clarke, who must be wishing he could face such impotent opposition every week.

Chris Wilder named the same starting eleven that beat Altrincham last weekend, and even made more or less the same substitutions. Goalscorer Midson was replaced by Ross Perry on 69 minutes to bring height into the midfield and shore up the defence. Ten minutes later Jamie Cook came on for Green, and with five minutes remaining Murray was replaced by Sam Deering.

Today's referee was Steven Cook, taking charge of his first Oxford game. He started off well, allowing play to flow, but started to lose it when he booked Batt but Batt didn't do it. Still, he was undoubtedly better than most of the officials we've suffered in the Conference. He also showed yellow cards to Constable and Midson, that may have been deserved, maybe not, who can say. The attendance was 6,144 of whom 769 (the quiet ones) were from Zummerzet.

There was one Conference game played today, with Chester City moving up to the heady heights of -3 points after winning 3-1 at Grays Athletic, who remain fourth from bottom. In today's FA Cup the biggest shock was probably at Grimsby Town, where Bath City won 2-0. Kettering Town won 1-0 at Hartlepool United, Shrewsbury Town lost 1-0 at home to Staines Town, and York City beat Crewe Alexandra 3-2. [@news]2591[/@news][@opponent]yeovil town[/@opponent]