Oxford United fell to defeat at Blackburn Rovers this afternoon, despite taking a spectacular lead through a Mark Harris volley. Unfortunately, Joe Rankin-Costello equalised on the stroke of half time and Arnor Sigurdsson completed the heartbreak with just seven minutes remaining of normal time.
United made three changes to the side that lost at Coventry City last Friday, with Elliott Moore and Cameron Brannagan unavailable due to injury and illness respectively, while Przemysław Płacheta was moved to the substitutes' bench. They were replaced by Peter Kioso, Matt Phillips and Idris El Mizouni, all of whom were making their first starts for the U's. This meant Sam Long moving to Moore's centre-back position and taking over the captain's armband.
Oxford started the game brightly, zipping the ball around and retaining possession well. They carved out the first chance after seven minutes thanks to the good work of Tyler Goodrham, who slipped the ball right to Phillips, his left-footed shot bringing a low save out of Aynsley Pears.
Blackburn always looked dangerous going forward, and United were indebted to Jamie Cumming in the 19th minute when first he kept out a shot from Rovers debutant Yuki Ohashi and then from the corner threw himself to his left to keep out a goal-bound header from Ryan Hedges.
El Mizouni had a chance from an unmarked header that he was unable to direct on target, Rú
A long clearance from Cumming was chested back by Phillips and Harris volleyed home from 30 yards to open the scoring. Goal of the Season already? Sparky indeed.
The lead lasted just two minutes, though. The game was already in first-half stoppage time when Rankin-Costello ended some goalmouth ping pong by thrashing home the equaliser with the final action of an entertaining half.
The second half almost started the way the first half had concluded, with Goodrham's drive requiring smart reflexes from Pears to keep the scores level.
With the game looking like it was drifting towards a draw, Blackburn took the lead when Sigurdsson curled a shot in off the post, just after United had made a double substitution that saw previous sub Płacheta have to be replaced by Owen Dale, making his first appearance since the League One play-off final at Wembley, and El Mizouni going off for Louie Sibley.
As the game moved into stoppage time there was a concerning delay as Harris received treatment following a collision with Pears, but he was eventually able to continue and see out the last few minutes.
A second away defeat, but again one that showed Oxford at their battling best. Plenty of lessons but plenty of heart and United can look forward with confidence.
UNITED: Cumming, Long, Brown, Vaulks, Harris, Phillips (Leigh 71), Bennett, El Mizouni (Sibley 83), Goodrham, Rodrigues (Płacheta 58 (Dale 83)), Kioso
Unused subs: Ingram, McEachran, Ebiowei, Thorniley, Scarlett
Attendance: 14,769 included a magnificent 1,212 away fans
Report: Martin Brodetsky; Photos: JasonPix, Steve Edmunds, Darrell Fisher
