United were beaten by Forest Green this afternoon as two set piece goals condemned them to their first defeat in seven games. Coming into the match on the back of four straight wins United couldn't find any way through a well organised Rovers side, to make their push to catch Dagenham much more difficult.

Unchanged from Tuesday's win against Southport, Oxford almost got off to the best possible start.After just twenty seconds Yemi Odubade ran on to Rob Duffy's flick and burst into the box but with only the keeper to beat, a combination of good defending and a poor touch allowed the visitors to clear the danger.

It was a decent start, but with Forest Green's away record including ten draws United were going to have to be patient and try to break the visitors down. It was important that Oxford got the ball wide and pulled the away team out of the centre to create space for Anaclet and Burgess to exploit.

It almost worked a treat in the 12^th minute when Burgess played Odubade down the left with a wonderful flick, but having done the hard work getting to the bye-line, the pacy striker wasted the opportunity with a poor cross-shot.

The home side continued to press and Gavin Johnson saw a header saved in the 15^th minute but to counter that Mark Beesley then forced a routine save from Billy Turley in the 20^th minute with the visitors' first shot of the match.

As we passed the half-hour mark the game had turned into a scrappy encounter with an underlying aggressive edge to it.Rob Duffy and Chris Giles were booked as the match threatened to explode in the 32^nd minute after a scuffle in the box. It was a needless caution for Duffy as it was his tenth of the season which means a suspension and the unimpressed Smith soon subbed him off to avoid any further damage.

Thankfully, United went back to playing football and Eddie Anaclet saw a header well saved in the 38^th minute and then Odubade saw a shot blocked just two minutes later The Yellow's continued to push forward.

Oxford got a huge let-off a minute before the interval when a Danny Carey-Bertram ran onto a ball over the United defence but with only Turley to beat, he shot straight at the keeper who pushed the ball away for a corner. The away side were not to be denied though as straight from the resulting corner, they took the lead.Simon Clist played the ball into the box, and although Anaclet blocked Giles' initial header, he could do nothing about Carey-Bertram's follow up effort from three yards.

It was a blow for United who after dominating most of the first half were now facing a huge battle in the second period to get themselves back into the match. Smith swapped Gavin Johnson for Chris Hargreaves, and went 4-3-3 and in the first minute of the second half Odubade got to the line again only for his dangerous cross to drop just short of the waiting Robinson.

Odubade blazed over the bar on 56 minutes after bursting into the box, but just as United looked to be getting back into the game their task got twice as difficult as their inability to cope with set-pieces cost them another goal. Again it came from the United left, once again Beesley flicked on, and once more it was Carey-Bertram at the far post to poke the ball home.

Someone had clearly forgotten to show Forest Green the part of the script where United clawed three points back from Dagenham, but all power to Jim Harvey and his team who had made their gameplan work perfectly.

United tried to rally, and had a penalty appeal waved away after Corcoran hit the deck, and then saw a Burgess flick header drift past the post on 75 minutes. The closest they came was a Hargreaves shot which was deflected over the bar (possibly via a hand) from twelve yards, but Rovers dug deep and defended like demons and there was simply no way through.

A result The U's could ill afford, and Carey-Bertram's double leaves their championship dream in intensive care...

Report Julian Hitchman and Chris Williams Pics Steve Daniels