In extremely wet and blustery conditions Oxford maintained their excellent home record and put their defeat at Hull behind them, as they beat lowly Kidderminster Harriers 2-1. Both of Oxford’s goals came from Dean Whitehead corners, as has happened so often this season, the first coming after just seven minutes from leading scorer Steve Basham, whose downward header skidded under Stuart Brock. Kidderminster equalised on the stroke of half-time, Adam Murray’s long-range effort getting caught on the strong wind and catching Andy Woodman by surprise. Half-time was then unexpectedly extended by 25 minutes after a piece of the South Stand roof loosened in the high winds and a number of spectators in the South Stand Lower were transfered to the North Stand. The second half, when it eventually got underway, was all United, but they had to wait until 13 minutes from time before making their pressure tell, when Paul McCarthy scored his second goal for United with a bullet header from a Whitehead corner (McCarthy’s other Oxford goal was also against Kidderminster, last season).

Ian Atkins made just one change from the side that lost at Hull two weeks ago, with Jon Ashton returning to the back line at the expense of Matt Bound, with McCarthy moving over to the left side of the back three. Atkins made his first substitution eleven minutes into the second half, with Mark Rawle replacing on-loan Richie Foran. With quarter of an hour remaining Atkins signalled his attacking intent by replacing Scott McNiven with Lee Steele, who later hit the post. With just a few minutes remaining Bound came on for Basham to shore up the defence.

Referee Eddie Evans had a reasonably good game, considering the conditions, using the advantage rule to good effect and generally allowing play to flow. He showed a yellow card to Ashton for pushing after already having awarded a free kick to Kiddy, and shortly afterwards he booked Kidderminster captain Wayne Hatswell (yes, him) for scything down Whitehead. The attendance of 6,057 was okay, considering most people would probably have rather stayed at home curled up in front of the telly. We have been promised a match report tomorrow morning.

United’s game was one of only four in the division that went ahead, the others (including Hull’s and Mansfield’s) all being postponed due to the weather. This means that Oxford are now back up to third, two points behind Doncaster, who beat Northampton 1-0 last night, and now three points behind Hull with a game in hand. The only other promotion chasing side that played today was Yeovil, who were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Macclesfield which takes them above Lincoln into sixth. Macclesfield have climbed above Kidderminster, who are now fourth from bottom. United’s next opponents, Leyton Orient, were beaten 1-0 at Cheltenham.