Oxford United held Portsmouth to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their League One playoff semi-final at Fratton Park.
The U’s fell behind when Ronan Curtis fired past Simon Eastwood, but a superb individual effort by Marcus Browne levelled the tie just before the break.
Your #oufc XI this afternoon: pic.twitter.com/xZY1NaAsLK
— Oxford Mail OUFC (@OxfordMailOUFC) July 3, 2020
Karl Robinson fielded arguably his strongest starting eleven. Eastwood began in goal, behind a back four of Josh Ruffels, Elliott Moore, Rob Dickie and Sam Long.
Alex Rodriguez Gorrin sat in front of the back four, with Cameron Brannagan and Ben Woodburn, who was making his first appearance since October. Browne and James Henry were the wide men, with Matty Taylor leading the line.
Jack Stevens, Anthony Forde, John Mousinho, Rob Atkinson, Liam Kelly, Jamie Hanson, Mark Sykes, Dan Agyei and Jamie Mackie were Robinson’s substitutions, with five now allowed during a game.
Naturally, the atmosphere was uncharacteristically quiet as a result of the coronavirus pandemic enforcing games to be played behind closed doors.
But it would have been the home fans that were the more comfortable set of supporters early on. Curtis struck the woodwork just six minutes in as the U’s struggled to keep hold of the ball.
Oxford’s first effort on goal came after the first-half drinks break. Henry’s corner was met by Ruffels but his effort was cleared. But Pompey than sprung a counter-attack. It eventually fell to Curtis who, from a U’s perspective, probably felt he had been pushed too wide to do any damage, but the winger struck past Eastwood from an acute angle.
As has been the case a few times this season, the goal actually spurred the U’s on. Henry switched positions with Woodburn and found himself on the ball more frequently.
Browne saw an effort sail wide before he fired in a low cross which wasn’t met by a player in white. The momentum was now with the U’s and it soon paid off.
Browne picked the ball up on the halfway line and eased towards the Pompey backline, before firing a shot into the bottom left corner.
The break came at a bad time for Oxford, who entered the break on top. After the break, Ellis Harrison was denied a penalty, before substitute Sykes saw his assist find Browne, but the goalscorer saw his effort deflected wide.
Henry saw a long-range effort saved by the Pompey shot-stopper before Eastwood made amends from his error for the goal with a terrific save to deny Christian Burgess.
The U’s survived another penalty shout late on when Agyei clipped Curtis, but the game ended 1-1 – as it did when the sides met at Fratton Park earlier in the season.
