Oxford United are now four games without a win following their 1-1 draw at home against Reading.
Mark Harris gave the U’s a deserved first-half lead but Ciaron Brown turned the ball into his own net to gift the Royals an equaliser.
Here are three talking points from the game.
Tale of Two Halves
A recurring theme, (and not a good one), was that Oxford failed to continue their momentum across the 90 minutes.
The U’s started the game at a blistering pace and were well worthy of their half-time lead as Harris tapped home following some good work from Cameron Brannagan.
The hosts pressed high and continuous and forced plenty of errors for the visiting side.
However, Des Buckingham’s side dropped off after the restart and it took ten minutes before they started to make an impact.
The Royals continued to apply pressure and the equaliser was deserved, despite it being fortuitous. Once the goal went in, the U’s lost their style and discipline.
Buckingham’s changes didn’t help. Owen Dale made his Oxford debut in place of Tyler Burey before Gatlin O’Donkor replaced Tyler Goodrham. The change in personnel and positioning slowed any momentum the U’s had, while the introduction of Jay Matete for his debut came too late.
Maybe Buckingham should have brought James Henry – who scored a late equaliser against Portsmouth last time out – instead of O’Donkor and allowed Harris to continue up top. Another option could have been dropping Dale to a wing-back in a back five in place of Stephan Negru, who struggled at right back.
Direct Wingers
One positive to take was the attacking display from Oxford United’s wingers. Burey and Goodrham constantly looked to beat their man, with the former causing plenty of problems.
Dale was the same after he came into the game with the former Blackpool man causing problems on both flanks.
While they couldn’t produce a goal, their impact was promising and it will cause problems going forward.
Stats
To have just 40 per cent possession at home against an under-pressure Reading side is unacceptable.
The Royals also only had one shot on target, which was an effort from 30 yards and easily saved by Simon Eastwood.
At the other end, Oxford had chances but rarely tested the visiting goalkeeper. Again, many of their opportunities came from distance with the U’s struggling to get behind the Reading defence.
