Exeter City 0, Oxford Utd 0

MALCOLM Shotton's Oxford finished their pre-season tour of the south-west with a solid but uninspiring display at St James' Park on Saturday.

The U's, who lined up in a 3-5-2 formation with Joey Beauchamp at left wing-back and new signing Dean Windass playing a floating role in midfield, were rarely troubled by their third division opponents.

And they had the chances to win it when they upped the tempo after half-time.

The first 45 minutes were uneventful.

Matt Murphy was 'sin-binned' for a poor tackle from behind on Jon Richardson, as was the home side's Jimmy Gardiner for a bad challenge on Windass.

The visitors had the best chance of the half. Nicky Banger and Windass combined to put striker Andy Thomson in the clear, however, he dawdled and Richardson was able to recover and hook the ball away from him.

Windass - Oxford's club-record £475,000 signing from Aberdeen - popped up all over the pitch. He looked a little isolated wide out on the right in the first half hour, dropped back briefly to play in front of the three centre backs, and eventually started to push forward as United stepped up a gear in the second half.

Almost immediately after the break, skipper Les Robinson - the spare man in the back three with Brian Wilsterman to his right and Phil Whelan to his left - surged out of defence and was brought down on the edge of the Exeter area.

Windass and Beauchamp - sure to form a potent dead-ball pairing this season - stood over the ball, but it was the former Aberdeen man who curled a shot around the wall and just wide of the post.

Then Welsh Under 21 star Anthony Wright, on after Martin Gray had been ordered into the sin bin by the referee after a challenge on Jason Rees, played Nicky Banger in, only for the U's striker to clip his effort over the bar.

On 55 minutes, Windass gathered a poor clearance and squared the ball to the lively Banger, but his shot was deflected wide.

From the resulting corner - United's first of the game - new-boy Danny Hill forced a scrambling save out of Exeter keeper Ashley Bayes with a high and hopeful looking chip. It was United's first real shot on target, and turned out to be the closest either side came to scoring as the game drifted to a close.

Oxford Utd: Whitehead, Robinson, Powell (Beauchamp 43), Gray (Wright 53), Wilsterman, Whelan, Rose, Windass, Banger (Murphy 62), Murphy (Thomson 27), Hill (Gray 69). Subs (not used): Jackson, Weatherstone, Folland, Cook.

Referee: B Jordan (Tring).

Attendance: 856.

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