Oxford United and Plymouth Argyle shared the points at Home Park this evening in a 1-1 draw, although it was the U's that perhaps would have felt most hard-done by.
United took the lead at the end of the first half through a thunderous Will Vaulks strike, his first goal for Oxford. Unfortunately, they were unable to hang on and the home side equalised midway through the second half.
Following the eight changes for Saturday's Emirates FA Cup trip to Exeter City, Rowett reverted to a more familiar line up, with just one change to the side that drew at Preston North End in the previous Championship game as Przemysław Płacheta came in for the suspended Tyler Goodrham.
Oxford started quickly, with a Vaulks long throw causing havoc in the Plymouth area after just 30 seconds. Argyle's first chance came in the 10th minute when Al Hajj met Tymoteusz Puchaz's cross, forcing Jamie Cumming into a superb flying save to prevent a goal.
United took the lead two minutes before half-time, and what a goal it was. Oxford worked the ball towards the Plymouth area, where Mark Harris thought about a shot but instead laid the ball into the path of Vaulks, who smashed the ball past Daniel Grimshaw from 25 yards with an unstoppable shot for his first U's goal.
United started the second half strongly but without creating any clear-cut opportunities and there was always the worry that without putting the game to bed Plymouth would come back into it.
Indeed, it was from an Argyle counter attack that the Pilgrims equalised, as Al Hajj glanced a header past Cumming from a Puchasz cross.
As the game entered stoppage time at the end of the second half, Oxford had a golden opportunity to grab the winner as Siriki Dembélé wriggled past three defenders to make space for a shot, but Grimshaw was able to palm the ball away. Dembélé came even closer in the final minute of time added on, his wicked shot forcing the Plymouth keeper to fist the ball clear.
At the end, a point is no disaster for the Yellows as this run of consecutive away games comes to an end. There are now two big home games in the next week, starting with the visit of Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
UNITED: Cumming, Long (Thorniley 43), Brown, Vaulks, Płacheta (Dembélé 68), Brannagan, Harris (Scarlett 67), Phillips (ter Avest 77), Rodrigues (Matos 77), Leigh, Kioso
Unused subs: Ingram, McEachran, Sibley, El Mizouni
Attendance: 15,933 (including 665 from Oxford)
Report: Martin Brodetsky; Photography: JasonPix, Steve Edmunds
