Bolton Wanderers 1, Oxford Utd 1 SEVEN days after losing at home to bottom club Tranmere, United produced their best away performance of the season to upset the odds and hold a Bolton side packed with internationals at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday.

The spirit which helped them to recover from their mauling at Sunderland by chalking up two big wins in their next two matches was in evidence again.

They closed down well, defended with character and kept concentration to the end against high-quality opponents.

After five successive away league defeats, manager Malcolm Shotton decided it was high time to change personnel and the team's formation to make the U's harder to beat on their travels.

He dispensed with wide midfielders Joey Beauchamp and Paul Powell and brought in his paciest defender Brian Wilsterman to deal with the speed of Nathan Blake.

The 3-5-2 system worked like a dream as Oxford stifled Bolton's attacking play, quietened the crowd and played some neat football as they broke from defence.

Keeping possession far better than in previous away games, United proved just as threatening as the home side in the opening half an hour, though in truth there wasn't much to get excited about in the cold, wet and windy conditions.

Wilsterman produced two moments of good defending to keep Bolton at bay, first keeping track with Blake as he burst through, and later flinging out a leg to cut out a dangerous left-wing cross. Claus Jensen headed over from eight yards, but apart from that, there were few chinks in United's defensive armour until some brilliance from Arnar Gunnlaugsson in the 38th minute. He beat four players on a dazzling run which was only ended by Simon Marsh hacking the ball into touch.

From the throw-in, Jensen pulled the ball back from the bye-line and Wilsterman missed with his attempted interception. The ball ran to another Danish international, Per Frandsen, and he drilled a low shot into the net from 15 yards.

The goal had come out of the blue, but United were back level inside two minutes after great work from Christophe Remy.

Dean Windass won a header to get the ball to Remy on the right and although the Frenchman's first touch was not the best, he then pumped a superb deep cross over the goalkeeper to the far post.

There to meet it was Andy Thomson, who reacted quicker than the Bolton defenders to turn the ball in from three yards for his third goal of the season.

The equaliser stunned Wanderers, unbeaten all season, yet Thomson nearly added another in first-half injury time. Put through by David Smith's pass, Thomson rounded the keeper, and from a tight angle, his shot was going in until Mark Fish raced back to clear off the line. Shotton must have been delighted with the 1-1 score at the interval and United carried on in the same vein in the second half.

Matt Murphy burst through central midfield, taking on allcomers after a one-two with Windass, but couldn't get any power behind his shot.

Gunnlaugsson tested Phil Whitehead with a 25-yard free-kick, but the U's were creating half chances, one of them an outrageous, ambitious shot from halfway by Windass which almost caught Bolton's keeper off his line.

Paul Powell came on for Remy, who was struggling with an injury, midway through the second half and he immediately caused problems, whipping in a cross which Thomson just failed to meet.

Then suddenly, Bolton upped the tempo and in a five-minute barrage, Whitehead had to save drives from Mark Whitlow and Gunnlaugsson.

The last few minutes were nerve-wracking for Shotton on the touchline but even the introduction of Dean Holdsworth couldn't force the win for Bolton.

United's players had worked themselves into the ground to get a draw. They did enough to win, but a point at the Reebok was an excellent result and Shotton seems to have at last found the formula that's needed to get results away from the Manor.

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