U's:1 Oxford:1 - surreal, sublime, stalemate

Some things go together naturally; Bangers and Mash, Chas and Dave, John Terry and the front page of the News of the World.

Some things don't. I have to say that if I was making a list of events I was unlikely to witness during my lifetime, then the sight of 80's television legend Timmy Mallett and United legend Paul Wanless kicking giant testicles at Marvin the Moose would have been quite near the top. But as anyone who was at last night's game will testify, it happened, and it was glorious. Half time entertainment will never be the same again.

The penalty shoot out wasn't the only strange thing that happened at the Abbey last night - United actually played quite well, albeit without winning the match. As Lingy said afterwards, you'd probably have taken a point beforehand, but there were chances for us to win the game against an Oxford side who are the best I've seen in the division so far this season. The way they kept the ball in the first half was exceptional, and up front their strikers Grant and Green pulled our defence all over the place.

Goalscoring hero big Brian Saah was my man of the match for a towering performance, no lingering problems with his tackle it seems, ahem. Both McAuley and Russell put in good stints in midfield, but I was disappointed in Ives, who had very little influence on the match, and Carden, who was rusty following his lay off.

Crowy ran his socks off as usual, and was denied what would have been the best goal ever scored, ever, by the agility of Ryan Clarke. If we can find him a decent partner then I think we'll be in business, and that man could be Callum Willock, who put himself about in an energetic 15-minute cameo. The same can't be said of Phillips, who again failed to make his mark, and I would consider handing the new signing a first start at Barrow on Saturday.

Ultimately it's no good talking about good performances if you don't get the points on the board, but I'm (still) confident that we're moving in the right direction. And with the games in hand we've got over the likes of Gateshead, Eastbourne, and particularly Ebbsfleet, we should be able to move away from the bottom three in the coming weeks.

*Send me your 20-word match reports on the Oxford match. Email cufcblog@googlemail.com, visit the U's Blog twitter page, or leave a comment under this post.