A ten-man Oxford United side picked up a vital point at the road Portsmouth in League One.
The U’s took a deserved lead at Fratton Park through Kyle Joseph but a second-half sending-off for Billy Bodin turned the game in the host’s favour, scoring just six minutes later.
Here are three talking points from the game.
Positive First Half
On the whole, Oxford would have been pleased with their first-half display at Fratton Park.
The U’s took a deserved lead through Joseph and matched their opponents through the opening 45 minutes.
Youngster Gatlin O’Donkor, who replaced the suspended Matty Taylor up top, did a lot without actually doing a lot, but constantly caused the Pompey backline problems. So much so, his clever knockdown to Joseph provided the game’s opener.
Also, despite having less possession, the U’s looked the more threatening in attack and caused the hosts plenty of problems.
Red Card
Similarly to the loss against Peterborough, there was another red card for Oxford United. However, this one affected the game much more.
Against the Posh, the U’s were on top but the dismissal slowed the momentum. At Portsmouth, the red card changed the game.
Bodin can’t argue with the sending-off – it was two unnecessary and clumsy fouls – but Portsmouth levelled just six minutes later and would feel they did enough to win the game late on.
Substitutions
Tyler Goodrham coming on for Marcus Browne made sense, as the latter appeared to take a slight knock and Karl Robinson need fresh legs in the wide areas.
The second change also made sense, with Djavan Anderson replacing O’Donkor following the red card to make the U’s more sound defensively.
However, the next alterations seemed bizarre. Steve Seddon came on for Joseph while Alex Rodriguez Gorrin replaced Cameron Brannagan. This meant Oxford reverted to a 4-4-1 but Anderson, who started off as a right winger, moved up top following the departure of Joseph, and Seddon played left wing.
With the likes of Lewis Bate back on the bench and Jodi Jones also available, why didn’t Robinson opt to select those players? Bate could have covered for Brannagan while Jones could have gone wide, moving Goodrham up top and switching to a more solid back five of Seddon, Ciaron Brown, Stuart Findlay, Elliott Moore and Sam Long.
