THE pressure increased still further on Malcolm Shotton last night as Oxford United lost for the first time ever at Scunthorpe.

They went down 1-0 to an 89th minute goal and would have lost more heavily but for a sensational performance from South African goalkeeper Andre Arendse, who answered his critics with a string of brilliant second-half saves.

But the small band of travelling supporters did not take well to United's fourth defeat in a row and at the final whistle a section of them unfurled a "Shotton Out" banner.

This time last season, there were more than 30 League places between Oxford United and Scunthorpe but after last night's triumph, the north Lincolnshire club climbed further away from sorry Oxford in the bottom half of the second division.

Fans fed up with United's slide have been demanding changes. Yet chairman Firoz Kassam, who is currently in the United States, appears to have no desire to give the manager the push, and pay out the compensation that goes with such a move, while Shotton, who signed a two-year contract at the start of the season, similarly will not resign.

One error by Steve Davis, who allowed the dangerous Guy Ipoua to turn him and shoot home from 12 yards, cost the U's, who controlled the first half but were outplayed in the second.

And Shotton said: "I'm bitterly disappointed for the boys.

"They've worked very, very hard to turn the corner and we've been done in the last minute."

Davis, a centre half Shotton brought to the Manor from his old club Barnsley, was also partly to blame for Brentford's opening goal last Saturday, but the manager defended him. "It's asking an awful lot of players coming back from long-term injuries and playing so many games in such a short space of time.

"The lads were absolutely dead on their feet at the end and they've given everything they've got. They are gutted, they worked hard for 90 minutes and are very down at being stung in the last minute.

"Scunthorpe played a high powered game in the second half, with a lot of balls over the top. They put you under a lot of pressure but we've stood up to that. But right at the death it's a kick in the teeth for us."

Shotton was full of praise for Arendse, who was faultless in his dealing with crosses, and made three stunning saves.

"Arendse was magnificent," he said. "That's the sort of keeper we knew we were bringing in when we brought him in."

But at the other end United continue to struggle for goals.

Steve Anthrobus admitted: "I'm not playing well at the moment and I know that. We've just got to stick together and work even harder to turn things around."

Story date: Wednesday 20 October

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.