By Jon Murray OXFORD United may need to show the same fighting qualities that brought them back from the dead at Shrewsbury on Saturday if they are to remain in the FA Cup after last night's draw.

The winners of the replay face a difficult third-round tie at first division Nottingham Forest, managed by former England star David Platt, on December 11.

United will feel they deserved better after a remarkable comeback at Gay Meadow where they trailed 2-0 after an hour.

And it was an inspired double substitution from caretaker-manager Mickey Lewis which turned the tie and helped bring them back to 2-2.

Lewis brought on Steve Anthrobus and Jamie Cook, and within minutes Anthrobus had set up a goal for Matt Murphy.

Suddenly, United were transformed into a side with purpose, and Rob Folland completed the recovery act with an equaliser 11 minutes from time, leaving Lewis still unbeaten after five games in charge.

The replay will be at the Manor Ground on Tuesday, November 30. The winners travel to the City Ground in the next round - and Anthrobus is confident that the winners will be Oxford. "We did brilliantly to get it back to two-all to take them back to Oxford. We should feel confident there and do the business," he said.

"We were dead and buried. Shrewsbury played some good football in the first half. They deserved their lead and deserved to be two goals up on us.

"But I'm glad we didn't try to play it too long when I came on. We tried to keep hold of the ball and tried to get around them.

"It was a great finish by Murph. And after all the pressure we put on them, we deserved that second goal from Robert.

"How it's been in games previous under Malcolm (Shotton) is that the ball is just knocked up to me to compete against two 6ft centre halves and it has just broken down.

"We tried to stay composed and it paid off.

"Living just five minutes from the ground at Shrewsbury, I've been taking a bit of stick from the fans, so this gave me a lot of pleasure."

Anthrobus highlighted the difference Lewis has made, and said he, for one, would love him to get the manager's job full-time. "The lads feel confident and that stems from the way Lewy is on the training field.

"And he's saying if you make a mistake, don't worry about it, just concentrate on working on your control. He's enthusiastic, always buzzing about and the players have a lot of respect for him.

"Everybody wants to work with him and wants him to get the job, and every player respects his decision if they play or if they don't play.

"I was sorry that Malcolm and Mark got the sack and I don't want to have a go at them because they had their ways of doing things. But seeing the way training is the last few days, everyone is buzzing and the players seem sharper.

"It was frustrating under Malcolm. The players were getting frustrated and I was getting frustrated because there is more to my game than the ball hitting my head and just trying to flick it on. I had two and a half years under Dario Gradi at Crewe and he preached football, no matter what." Lewis preferred to praise the players who had achieved the stunning comeback rather than take the plaudits for making the substitutions.

"We got out of jail, but we earned it in the end," he said.

"It wasn't a great first-half performance. We got into good areas but we never delivered crosses, we tried to play the extra pass.

"In the second half, we still stuck at it. We gave away a bad goal to go 2-0 down, but then showed good character to come back.

"You have to change it when you're 2-0 down. Sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn't.

"The two lads who came on did very well, I think Steve did extremely well. But I was pleased that when we stuck Steve on, we didn't just start playing high balls for him to battle. "He said to me afterwards that he was chuffed that there were a lot of balls into his chest, his feet . . . he's a good player.

"As soon as we got a goal, the whole complexion of the game changed and suddenly we were on top. And our passing tired the opposition out. They were finding it very hard in the last few minutes."

If they get past Shrewsbury in the replay to earn their tie at Forest, United will feel they have been tied in Notts for two or three weeks. For they're in the city tomorrow night, taking on high-flying Notts County in a Division 2 game, and pass it on Saturday on their way to nearby Chesterfield.

UNITED did at least get one home draw at the weekend. They have been paired at home to Luton Town - who have done the double over them in the league - in the first round of the Auto Windscreen Shield.

That tie will be at the Manor on Tuesday, December 7.

Story date: Monday 22 November

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