MANAGER Malcolm Shotton is convinced Oxford United's Division 1 fate won't be decided until the final game of the season against Stockport on May 9 following the calamitous 1-0 home defeat by Bury.

Saturday's Manor match was one neither side could afford to lose, but United did just that, crashing to a 29th-minute strike by Bury's on-loan Leeds forward Derek Lilley when skipper Les Robinson was short with a header back to his keeper.

"We should have won the game comfortably,'' Shotton said. "Bury had one chance from one of our senior players making a mistake and it's cost us the game.

"I feel somebody upstairs doesn't like us. Again we battered our opponents, we hit the bar twice, had a lad clear it off the line but the ball just wouldn't go in the back of the net.

"I think without a shadow of a doubt it will now go down to the wire. It's what I've been saying all along, but I'm even more sure of it now."

Bury boss Neil Warnock claimed Shotton's criticism of his players after the 1-0 defeat at Gigg Lane in October had backfired. "I didn't have to do anything to motivate my players - Malcolm did it all," Warnock said. "One of our lads brought a cutting from the Bury Times when they played us with Malcolm saying it was the worst side he'd ever seen and if he had players who played like that, he'd sack them.

"So we put that up on the dressing room door today and I didn't have to say anything to them after that."

United's Kevin Francis who, along with striking partner Andy Thomson, again missed two good chances, said: "Our fate is definitely in our own hands. We could have changed the script a bit today.

"The Port Vale game next Saturday could make or break it for us."

Francis chuckled: "At least we're keeping it exciting for the fans until the very end. It's better than dull end-of-the-season stuff when everyone's just looking ahead to the summer."

It was Bury's first away win of the season and their first ever win at Oxford, putting them level on points with United with a game in hand.

Francis, still looking for his first goal of the season, remains optimistic, however, that the U's can save their skins.

"So long as we keep creating chances, hopefully our luck will change, as it did at Sheffield. I could do with that goal to come, not just for me but for the morale of the whole team." There was great debate about whether a 20-yard shot by Nicky Banger, which came back off the underside of the bar like Geoff Hurst's 1966 "goal", had crossed the line.

Photographers close to the incident were certain it had and Francis said: "I was convinced the shot was over the line. I had my arms up but the linesman was over by the LP Supports advertising board, a long way from being able to see clearly."

Story date: Monday 12 April

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