OXFORD United's point-earner Phil Gilchrist said yesterday's 2-2 draw at Tranmere felt like a victory after the side battled back superbly from 2-0 down.

Centre back Gilly drove in his first league goal of the season with just two minutes to go to complete a fabulous United fightback after they cruelly trailed to two first-half penalties.

And it proved a priceless draw for Malcolm Shotton's men as most of their relegation rivals won to close the gap at the foot of the first division table.

Gilchrist said: "The boys are really relieved. They felt done to be 2-0 down and to come out with 2-2, it feels like a win for us and at the end we had chances to win the game.

"We've just seen the first penalty decision on the telly. Paul Tait got his arm across the lad but I can't see anyone giving a penalty for that. I'd say nine times out of ten referees wouldn't give a penalty for it.

"None of their players complained. When he blew, we just thought the ref had given a foul and obviously he had - but to them!

"They had two penalties and one shot on goal the whole game. It was a similar story last Saturday, Bolton had two shots and there were two back-passes for Paul Lundin to deal with. "We felt a bit down to be 2-0 down but we got back. At half-time, the gaffer came in and said you shouldn't be 2-0 down, you've had two penalties against you, you've battered them and we did batter them for 85 minutes, and in the end we've got out of it what we deserve."

It was arguably Gilchrist's second goal of the season with some of the record books showing he also got United's first in their FA Cup replay at Chelsea, while others thought it was a Marcel Desailly own goal.

But Gilchrist has been in great form in recent games, and there was no doubting this goal was his.

"I struck the shot quite well," he admitted. "I'm quite happy with that because it's probably my first of the season but I won't tell anyone!"

Shotton praised his players' commitment but was angry they had given away two needless penalties.

He hauled midfielder Matt Murphy off after he conceded the second penalty, even though there was more than an hour of the game to go.

"Quite rightly so, too," said Shotton. "I won't stand for it."

He added: "We shot ourselves in the foot twice with two penalties and then we've dragged ourselves back. I thought we were the better side for 90 minutes so I'm very disappointed that we haven't got three points. "But I was very proud of them for working their tails off. We've worked very hard in the last few weeks to make sure we're a hard side to beat and all credit to them for fighting back from 2-0 down.

"They've worked hard right to the last kick of the game. We could have won the game, Joey's missed from under the bar, Banger's hit the post, Paul Lundin's had one shot to save from outside the area and two penalties. On their patch we've dominated the game.

"We'll take a lot of plusses from the game but, like last Saturday, we've lost two points.

"The first penalty was Paul Tait pulling the lad's shirt apparently, but nobody knew what it was for. None of their side appealed.

"The second one was a pullback by Murphy and you can't do that in the box."

Tranmere boss John Aldridge said: "I'm not a happy bunny tonight. Oxford were the better team, they had more desire.

Story date: Tuesday 06 April

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