United lost their third consecutive away game, in front of yet another massive away following, on their first league visit to Huish Park, Yeovil. The solitary goal came from on-loan Andy Bishop after 29 minutes, but Yeovil had young goalkeeper Chris Weale to thank for two fantastic saves, from an 11th minute Matt Robinson free kick and from a blistering 22-yard Dean Whitehead shot midway through the second half. Apart from the goal he conceded Andy Woodman had little to do, although United didn’t threaten much at the other end either.

United surprisingly stuck with the same line-up and formation that started against Scunthorpe on Wednesday, but were forced into a change just a minute before half-time, when a limping Steve Basham was replaced by Lee Steele. On the hour mark Whitehead came on for Paul Wanless to add some creative attacking threat to the midfield, and with just over a quarter of an hour left ROS Chris Hackett finally got another outing when he was brought on for Scott McNiven.

Referee P Crossley had a poor game, making bad decisions for both sides, and some inexplicable decisions. He showed yellow cards to Whitehead and Jon Ashton, both for insignificant offences, while letting far more serious misdemeanours go unpunished. The attendance of 7,404 was the best Third Division gate today. With a bit of luck we’ll have a match report for you tomorrow – anyone fancy sending one in?

United stay third after this defeat, but are now only three points ahead of Mansfield, who have played one game fewer, after the Stags won 2-1 at York, for whom Lee Nogan scored. Yeovil are 5th, six points behind the Us. Leaders Hull City were held to a 1-1 draw at bottom club Carlisle, allowing second placed Doncaster to move to within one point of top spot after beating Macclesfield 1-0. Macc have slipped to second from bottom after Darlington won 3-0 at Bristol Rovers.

Huddersfield moved up to sixth, leap-frogging Torquay where they won 1-0. Lincoln remain 8th after being held to a 1-1 draw by Scunthorpe. Bury, United’s next opponents, beat Cambridge 1-0, while Swansea, the Third Division’s last remaining representatives in the FA Cup, were beaten 2-1 at Tranmere.

Dean Windass scored an equaliser for Bradford City, but the Bantams were still beaten 3-1 at Ipswich. Ben Abbey scored twice for Gravesend, but they lost 5-2 at home to Hereford. Derek Lilley scored again for Livingston as they beat Motherwell 3-1 and, perhaps most astonishing of all, Derek Townsley was on target for Gretna, who beat Albion Rovers 3-0.

EDIT: Even more astonishing than Townsley’s goal: Steve Anthrobus scored the only goal of the game as Hednesford Town beat Dover in the FA Trophy 5th Round. Less amazing was the goal scored by former United trainee, Matt Taylor, who equalised for Portsmouth in their 1-1 FA Cup draw at Anfield against Liverpool.