OXFORD UNITED 2 SHREWSBURY TOWN 2: Ten minutes of unprofessionalism cost Oxford United a vital home league win at the weekend, said manager Ian Atkins.

Chris Hackett tangles with Leon Drysdale

After looking as though they were sailing to a comfortable victory over Shrewsbury at the Kassam Stadium, thanks to goals by Andy Scott and Jefferson Louis in the opening 16 minutes, the U's let the Shrews haul themselves back to share the points.

They struck twice in six minutes to salvage a 2-2 draw, in a match that saw Chris Hackett sent off by controversial referee Joe Ross in the final minute for a second yellow card.

United dropped to eighth place as a result of the draw, and Atkins was frustrated.

"When you're two goals up in 20 minutes and you end up drawing, that's two points lost," he said.

"We set off like a train, and did what we set out to do.

"We'd put Chrissy Hackett out wide and had a bit of pace up front, and we'd had the game won. Then for a 10-15 minute spell we were unprofessional, and that's not like us.

"We did some stupid things when all we needed to do for ten minutes was continue doing what we'd been doing. But we got a bit sloppy."

A rare mistake from goalkeeper Andy Woodman, who allowed a long-range Ian Woan free-kick to beat him at his near post, allowed Shrewsbury back in.

"For the first goal, Andy's got to look at himself, but at the same time we do a lot of work at defending set pieces, and we still had two men on the ball. That's the first one we've conceded this season from a set piece, but Andy will be the first one to say he should have stopped it.

"The second goal was like a comedy of errors. We had the ball, gave it away and didn't work hard enough to get it back. We then allowed their player to come across three defenders and score."

Read the match report and more on the U's on This is United