Oxford United drew for the first time this season after Blackpool scored a late equaliser at Grenoble Road.
Greg Leigh netted his fifth goal of the season in the first half but former U’s loanee Jordan Rhodes scored an injury-time leveller.
Here are three talking points from the game.
Line-Up and Formation
There was a lot of talk before kick-off about how Liam Manning would set his team up. The U’s started the campaign with a back four but have picked up wins with a back three in recent weeks.
As it happened, it was a mix between the two. James Beadle stayed in goal with Sam Long, Elliott Moore, Ciaron Brown and Greg Leigh as the four, but Leigh often moved forward to a wing-back while Stanley Mills dropped in on the other side.
Cameron Brannagan missed the game through illness so Josh McEachran lined up alongside Marcus McGuane with Mills, Ruben Rodrigues and Billy Bodin ahead of them. Mark Harris led the line.
Tale of Two Halves
Having seen an international break stop play last weekend, Oxford began the game on the front foot and took a deserved lead through Leigh.
The move came off the end of a brilliant passage of play with Mills delivering the ball into the box which Leigh pounced on to net yet another goal.
However, after the restart, the U’s struggled to get going. The substitutes struggled to make an impact while the resulting pressure and persistence from the Seasiders eventually resulted in an equaliser, despite a couple of late saves from Beadle.
Substitutes
With Brannagan missing through illness, Manning confirmed that there were a couple more players struggling ahead of kickoff.
This was evident after the break, with the team struggling against a Blackpool side that had a lot more fight in them.
Tyler Goodrham, Fin Stevens, Josh Murphy and Gatlin O’Donkor struggled to get going while Blackpool’s changes helped swing the momentum in their favour.
