Oxford United’s unbeaten run has extended to five games but they were held on the road at Wycombe.
It wasn’t a strong performance from the U’s but to take four points from their two matches this week makes the draw credible.
Here are three talking points from the game.
Line-up and Change of Formation
It was difficult to predict the starting line-up for this game, and that was made harder for Des Buckingham in losing two key players before kick-off.
Jamie Cumming stayed in goal while Sam Long and Greg Leigh continued as the full-backs. However, captain Elliott Moore picked up a hip injury on Friday, so Stephan Negru partnered Ciaron Brown.
Jay Matete was handed another start alongside Cameron Brannagan but Marcus McGuane was another absentee with a quad knock.
Josh Murphy, who was man of the match last time out against Wigan, started with Tyler Goodrham on the other flank.
There was a return for Ruben Rodrigues, who played behind Mark Harris.
So Buckingham started with the same formation but changed things at the break with Will Goodwin replacing Murphy and switching to a 4-4-2.
It was a better display after the restart, which we’ll come to next.
Tale of Two Halves
Oxford really struggled to get going in the first 45 minutes and have to thank Jamie Cumming for making some key saves.
The Chelsea loanee saved four times in the first half as the U’s headed into the break level.
The change in formation helped the U’s after the break, despite neither Harris nor Goodwin testing the goalkeeper.
Brannagan had Oxford’s best chance but his left-footed effort was palmed wide, while there was a late penalty appeal when Rodrigues went down, but the Portuguese was booked for simulation.
Clean Sheet
A massive positive to take from the game was a first clean sheet in 15 games in all competitions.
The U’s last kept the opposition at bay in a 3-0 win over Burton back in December. But this was all the more impressive given the change in personnel in the backline and also Wycombe’s recent form, which includes nine goals from three games – including five at Peterborough.
