Yemi Odubade came off the bench to inspire Oxford United to another three points at home.

He broke the deadlock on 70 minutes with a superbly directed header from Craig Nelthorpe's left-wing cross.

And four minutes later, it was from Odubade's deft pass that goal machine James Constable slammed the ball into the back of the net with a clinical first-time shot.

Constable was scoring for the seventh home game in succession, and it didn't take long for the United fans in the Oxford Mail Stand to start singing "Sign Him On, Sign Him On".

Until Odubade's arrival, the U's had found it hard to break through against a defensive Forest Green who strung five across midfield and played just one up front.

The first half was a pretty poor spectacle on a freezing night at the Kassam Stadium.

The opening minutes were scrappy with neither side able to create clear openings.

One of the first sniffs of a chance fell to Sappleton when a ball over the top flew over centre back Lee Ayres and dropped at his feet, but he wasn't alive to the chance and the ball bounced away off his boot.

Sappleton for Odubade had been the only change made by boss Chris Wilder from Saturday's team against Altrincham.

On 18 minutes, the U's had a big let-off following some sloppy defending.

Little striker Lee Afful got away from Luke Foster and beyond United's defence, rounded Billy Turley as he came out, and with Chris Willmott doing his best to cover as much of the goal as he could, Afful fired an angled shot against the outside of the near post.

U's fans started to get on the back of the players as similarities with the previous Tuesday set in - a lack of concentration when defending, and not enough off-the-ball movement when they tried to go forward.

Sappleton strayed offside frustratingly on one attack but a more promising raid came just before the half hour when Constable's square pass from the left went straight to Sappleton and he managed an instant right-footed drive that Terry Burton saved low to his left.

The one time Lewis Haldane threatened to break free down the right, he was unceremoniously chopped by fullback Paul Stonehouse, and from Adam Murray's free-kick, Willmott wasn't far away from converting at the far post, seeing the ball only late.

Thirty seconds later, on the other wing, Craig Nelthorpe was scythed down in identical fashion by Alex Lawless, and like Stonehouse, he too was booked.

Forest Green were organised and hard to break down, though, getting players behind the ball whenever they could and leaving Afful on his own up front.

But the visitors might still have been the ones to draw first blood when, just before the break, they won their first corner, and from it, centre half Mark Preece headed a yard wide.

Attacking towards their own fans in the second half, United stepped up a gear.

Haldane broke clear but got too much under his shot, and the keeper was able to turn it over the bar.

As the home side continued to press hard, Nelthorpe's deft touch put Murray into space for a stabbed shot, but Burton saved well with his leg.

Just eight minutes into the second half, Chris Wilder and made a double substitution. sending on Oduybade for Sappleton, and adding Eddie Hutchinson for Haldane to strengthen up the middle.

Adam Chapman hit a rasping drive just over the angle of post and bar, and after the visitors made their own double substitution, that was when Odubade, and Constable, took centre stage.

Odubade's goal, his first in the league since September, was a neat finish as he had to get exactly the right weight on his header to force it over keeper Burton and just under the bar.

And once Constable had a sight of goal moments later, from Yemi's pass, there wasn't much doubt about the income.

At the back, Willmott was excellent, and so too was Turley in the closing minutes.

The keeper beat out a drive from Jonathan Smith and was bravely down at the feet of Platt.

But he could do nothing about sub David Brown's 89th-minute glancing header which gave Forest Green brief hope.

But Wilder's men hung on, wiping off in just eight days the five-points deficit they were handed by the Conference.