Davis grabs U's vital point
   Steve Davis' second-half equaliser secured United a vital point in a 2-2 draw at Bristol City,
   earlier Paul Powell had put them in front.
   United badly needed to win this game to boost their hopes of avoiding relegation, but in the end
   Dennis Smith's side were just grateful to grab a point.
   The visitors started the game the brighter and almost took the lead through Steve Anthrobus
   early on, before Paul Powell opened the scoring on ten minutes.
   Former Leeds striker Derek Lilley broke down the left before picking out Powell with a cross
   which deceived City keeper Steve Phillips. The wing-back reacted sharply to control the ball
   before smashing it home to give the visitors the lead.
   That strike seemed to spark City into life and a combination of bad finishing and good
   goalkeeping by Oxford stopper Richard Knight denied the home side a quick response.
   Shortly afterwards, acting manager Tony Fawthrop was forced to bring on substitute Alex
   Meechan after an injury to Damien Spencer on 19 minutes.
   His introduction was to prove significant as he netted the Robins' equaliser.
   It came about in the most unlikely of circumstances, as experienced midfielder Brian Tinnion
   fired in a shot which seemed destined to go wide.
   However, Meechan managed to get a vital touch to the ball which did enough to wrong-footed
   goalie Knight and take it into the net.
   Ring-winger Scott Murray was a real thorn in United's side throughout the 90 minutes, although
   he did pick up the only booking of the game prior to the half-time interval.
   City grabbed their second goal of the afternoon six minutes before the break, when Tony Thorpe
   managed to get in behind the Oxford defence.
   The ex-Luton striker looked up for support before delivering an inch-perfect centre to Brown,
   who headed past Knight after making a good run from his midfield position.
   Oxford tried to turn the game back in their favour by throwing on two substitutes of their own at
   the start of the second 45, with Simon Weatherstone and Rob Folland coming on.
   But it was City who were the first to come close to scoring again after the restart. Thorpe was
   causing the United rear-guard a load of problems once more, and his delightful through ball
   should have been resulted in goal, but alas Murray's finish didn't match the quality of the pass.
   A host of other half-chances were then squandered by City before United punished them by
   forcing their all-important leveller thanks to a rare goal by Davis.
   The defender took full advantage of a mistake from the home keeper Phillips, who fumbled a
   simple cross from Powell, to square matters up at two apiece.
   Amazingly, Oxford could have won the match in the dying moments as first Lilley shot wide and
   then Mark Watson's header went inches past the wrong side of the post.

This page is maintained by James Beard.