Terrible defending by Harriers in the first half allowed Oxford to race into a two-goal lead that was to prove ultimately insurmountable for the home team despite a much improved second half display.

Stuart Watkiss made just one change from the side that was beaten at Macclesfield last week, John McGrath came in for his first start in place of the suspended Lee Jenkins, and kept faith with the same diamond formation.  The formation seemed a little unbalanced, however, as McGrath was positioned on the right-hand side of the midfield despite being a more naturally left-sided player and was therefore unable to perform to the best of his ability.  The opening exchanges of the game had little to commend them with scrappy play bogged down in midfield.

The alarm bells started ringing for Harriers after 19 minutes, Simon Weaver hesitated in clearing and Matt Robinson was able to nip in behind but fired over the bar.  There was a great chance for Harriers that they were to rue shortly afterwards; McGrath crossed from the right and picked out Birch who headed down towards goal but Chris Tardiff did well to get down and palm it away for a corner.

The opening goal came moments after Birch's miss; the ball was played in to Chris Hackett in the middle of the Harriers half, his first touch took care of the the motionless Harriers defence and left him clear in the penalty area and he was able to slot the ball past John Danby easily.  The second goal was even worse from a Harriers point of view; Tom Bennett took too long in clearing from inside the penalty area, a lack of communication between the players that had already become apparent meant that he was not warned about the Oxford player behind him, and he was dispossessed easily and Craig Davies was left with another easy finish, rifling the ball past Danby from a narrow angle.  In the last minute of the half Harriers could have reduced the arrears when Johnny Mullins crossed from the right but a deflection took it out of the reach of McGrath and out for a corner.

After the break Harriers were a different side, clearly having had a roasting from Watkiss at the interval, and soon got on top of the game; a change of formation moved McGrath onto the left wing and Russell to the right in a more straightforward 4-4-2 rather than the diamond used in the first half.  Great play by Simon Russell on the left wing allowed him to set find Dean Keates whose chip into the penalty area was headed goalwards by Birch and Tardiff just managed to get his fingertips to it to keep it out, he didn't hold on to it, however, but neither Birch or Blair Sturrock were following up - both preferring to stand and admire the header - and United were able to clear.  United were still in the game, though, and a strong run forwards by Robinson was unchallenged and he picked out Davies outside him on the left but his shot was straight at Danby.

Harriers came even closer to a goal after an hour, Russell again was involved, he found Sturrock on the right wing who cut inside and curled a 20-yard shot against the foot of the far post.  Minutes later Harriers finally made the breakthrough; a free kick from the right wing after Chris Beardsley, on as a substitute surprisingly for Sturrock rather than the ineffective Birch, had been brought down by Mateo Corbo found Birch at the far post, his header back across goal was turned into his own net by Jon Ashton.

Harriers pressed hard for an equaliser; Beardsley got to the byline on the left and crossed into the danger area to Birch whose header finally beat Tardiff but Mullins' attempt to force it over the line instead helped only to keep it out of the net.  Shortly before the end of the game a great run by McGrath left three defenders in his wake and his through ball into the penalty area was only just a fraction too heavy for Russell to reach, Tardiff gathering it gratefully.

At the other end United went close to a third in the dying moments, a free kick from Tommy Mooney beat the wall but curled just wide of the near post.  A third goal came in stoppage time to end Harriers' resistance; with Harriers pressing for the equaliser they were caught out by Steve Basham's break from deep, Danby came out to meet him and saved well at his feet but the ball ran loose and the United striker was able to pounce on it and steer it into the empty net.