Rob Edwards’ side went behind in the 77th minute at Thame United’s Meadow View Park to what the head coach called a ‘dubious’ penalty decision, before Carlos Heredia equalised just moments later in the 1-1 draw.
Pedro Goncalves had Wolves' first sight at goal after just 13 minutes after winning and then taking a free kick 20 yards from goal to force a smart save from Stevens in the Oxford goal.
Harry Burgoyne – on his first start for the under-23s this season as he makes his way back from an injury he picked up on loan at Plymouth Argyle earlier in the autumn – made a number of smart saves to keep the score line goalless at the half time interval.
Benny Ashley-Seal looked to have put Wolves ahead about 20 minutes into the second half, but despite finishing beyond Stevens, the assistant referee flagged for offside.
Oxford took the lead with just 15 minutes of the match left when Harvey Bradbury converted the spot-kick emphatically beyond Burgoyne. But Wolves replied almost instantly with their equaliser when Heredia finished calmly from close range.
The visiting boss was left disappointed with the result, despite several good performances from his players.
“I suppose in terms of chances it was probably a fair result,” Edwards said. “We did have the majority of possession which you kind of expect from us, but we probably didn’t quite do enough with it.
“They put bodies on the line and they made some really good blocks and we got in some good positions, but as has been the case in the last couple of games, we maybe haven’t been making the most out of the chances we have.”
Although Edwards was unconvinced with the penalty Oxford were awarded, he was pleased with the response from his team after they found themselves going behind.
“I thought it was a dubious penalty decision against us, but the lad finished the penalty well. But the reaction we had when we went one-nil down was very good, we got back into the game within a minute or two and we were the ones who were pushing then.
“There were some good performances. Pedro and Benny played very well and it was good to get Harry Burgoyne some minutes, especially after his long injury lay-off, so that was a real positive.
“Dion Sanderson also got 25 minutes, which was always the plan, so there were lots of positives on the night, but maybe at 1-1 the final result was a little bit disappointing because we wanted to win the game.
“But we’re still top of the group after three games and that’s where we want to try and stay if we can.”
TEAMS:
Oxford United: Stevens, Norman, Taylor, Long, Raglan, Heap, R James, Bradbury, O James, McCreadie.
Subs: Berry-Hargreaves, Dai, Spasov, Lopes, Clayton.
Wolves: Burgoyne, Burr, Molberg, Csoka, John, Giles, Goncalves, Diallo, Heredia, Alves, Ashley-Seal.
Subs: Sondergard, Sanderson, Dias, Ennis, Sauvage.
COMING UP:
Wolves will be back in league action as Rob Edward’s side travel to Sunderland in the PL2 as they hope to replicate their 7-0 result against the Black Cat’s under-23s from earlier in the season.
NEXT FIVE:
10/12 Sunderland (A)
14/12 Fulham (H)
7/1 West Bromwich Albion (A)
11/1 Reading (H)
21/1 Hull City (A)
