Aldershot manager Dean Holdsworth was full of praise for his side’s performance – and revealed that they practice playing against ten men in training.

The Shots played with a man short for 75 minutes, but still earned a point.

And their display was even more impressive after they won at West Ham in the Carling Cup just three days earlier.

“That that result and performance was bigger than that at West Ham,” he said.

“For us to be down to ten men after 15 minutes having played against a top Championship side in midweek — I thought we were the better side in the second half.

“We practice playing with a man down in training, so the players have an idea of how to go about it, and the discipline we showed was superb.”

Holdsworth said that the instructions to his players at half-time were simple.

“We had to regroup at half-time and I wanted to make sure we kept the tempo down and counter-attacked well,” he said.

“I am very impressed with Oxford. This is a good club who have a very good side, but we got what we deserved today, and maybe could have nicked it at the end.

“But this result will hopefully kick-start our season now.”