City 1 Oxford 1

A home game against Oxford provided a useful barometer by which to measure City's progress so far this season; not only because the U's were nine points clear at the top of the table going into the match, but also because provided a neat point of contrast to the season's curtain-raiser, in which Oxford snatched a 2-1 win thanks to two late strikes. That a point in yesterday's match was met with at least as much disappointment as August's defeat, indicates how expectations have been raised in the intervening period.

Protecting an unbeaten home record, City led through Michael Rankine's 71st-minute effort, but were pegged back 10 minutes later when Oxford found the net with the only clear chance they created all match, and it was undoubtedly the away side which went away happier with the point. In fact, the Minstermen's unbeaten record at Bootham Crescent was subjected to far sterner tests in their recent encounters with Stevenage and Cambridge, when it was the home side who required a late equaliser.

Belying the 13-point gap between the clubs, it was City who controlled the play from the outset, with the return of Alex Lawless to central midfield increasing their ability to retain the ball, and strikers Michael Rankine and Richard Brodie causing problems for the centre-back pairing of Michael Creighton and Luke Foster. Ten minutes in, Rankine met Andy Ferrell's corner with a firm header, but Oxford keeper Ryan Clarke was equal to the effort. Then, after some neat footwork by Adam Smith, Rankine put in a dangerous cross from the right, but neither Ferrell or Brodie could make an effective connection.

After York having missed the link-up play of Michael Gash up front since his recent injury, for this match Brodie and Rankine seemed the ideal strikeforce to worry the similarly physical pairing of Creighton and Foster, with Rankine in particular impressing. The powerful forward found himself in the thick of the action again on 23 minutes, when he created an opening for Brodie, but his shot was blocked by the outstretched leg of an Oxford defender. Three minutes later it was Neil Barrett's turn to see his effort blocked, but this time by his own team-mate, as Djoumin Sangare found himself in the firing line when Barrett met an inswinging Ferrell free-kick with a powerful goalbound volley.

Oxford began to impose themselves more on the tie as the half wore on, but failed to create any meaningful openings, and the match descended into something of a stalemate for the fifteen minutes leading up to half-time, meaning that the score at the break was 0-0. The second half began much like the first, though, with the home side pushing forward in numbers and fashioning several chances. On 50 minutes, a deep cross was sent in from the right by Ben Purkiss, and Rankine headed across goal into the path of Brodie, but the frontman failed to show the instinct which has seen him reach a scoring tally of double figures already, and the ball passed him by. Then, on the hour mark, another deep cross, this time sent in by Ferrell from the left, evaded the grasp of U's keeper Clarke under the attention of Adam Smith, and the ball dropped perfectly for Rankine to attempt an audacious bicycle kick. Sadly, the execution was far from perfect, and the acrobatic attempt sailed high over the crossbar.

Rankine would get his reward, though, soon after, when a low ball sent in by Ferrell found its way through the Oxford back line and into the path of the big striker just outside the six-yard box. This time, Rankine made no mistake, slotting home confidently to notch just his second goal of the season and give City a deserved 1-0 lead. One unfortunate blot on City's copy-book this season, though, has been a tendency to sit deep and defend slender leads rather than attack and try to close games out, and this again occurred as they set their stall to hold on to the one-goal lead for the remaining twenty minutes.

It was this switch to a more defensive set-up which allowed Oxford, previously held at bay all match by City, to gain ground and create their first opportunity of the match with less than ten minutes remaining. An Oxford throw-in found its way to Damian Batt, the pacy right-back who had been one of the only U's players to unsettle the home team, and his speculative cross should have been dealt with by the Minstermen's defence, but instead found its way to Simon Clist. Then, showing the ruthlessness which is undoubtedly one of the qualities which has propelled Oxford to the top of the league, Clist calmly sent the ball past Michael Ingham to grab the equaliser.

Things went from bad to worse for York when, in the following minute, James Meredith was dismissed for a second bookable offence, but to their credit it was York who looked the most likely to get a late winner. Lawless jinked past several defenders to create an opening on the edge of the area, but his effort bounced wide of the far post, and despite the late introduction of Adam Boyes - re-signed on loan from Scunthorpe - this was as close as City game to a second goal. Both teams had to settle for a point, then, and for York another test lies ahead on Tuesday in the form of a trip to Luton. City will make the trip without the suspended Meredith, and in all likelihood Brodie (unless his booking yesterday is rescinded for mistaken identity), so while a victory would close the gap between City and the top five to just a point, boss Martin Foyle would surely regard a draw as a satisfactory result. After coming away from a match against the runaway leaders feeling unlucky to have drawn, however, the Minstermen should have nothing to fear from any side in this division.