A goal from Mark Harris cancelled out an early Josh Sargent strike to earn what could prove to be a vital point for United at Norwich City this evening.
Gary Rowett made two changes to the side that started against Coventry City last weekend, with Dutch defender Hidde ter Avest coming into the side in place of Peter Kioso, and Alex Matos replacing Tyler Goodrham.
United could have had a great start; the game was less than 30 seconds in when Harris stole the ball on the edge of the Norwich area and fed Ole Romeny, who got a shot away but it was straight at Vicente Reyes.
However, with just five minutes on the clock, the home side took the lead through dangerman Sargent, who was on the end of a Kellen Fisher cross to prod home from six yards out.
Two minutes later, a delightful swinging left-wing cross from Ciaron Brown just evaded the runs of both Harris and Romeny as Oxford looked for an instant response.
It was a long throw from Will Vaulks that led to Oxford's equaliser on 18 minutes. Michał Helik's flick found Harris, who swivelled and shot home from close range to end his goalscoring drought with his first goal since Boxing Day.
The goal seemed to rock Norwich, who took a while to regroup, but they eventually got back on the front foot and forced a succession of corners. However, Oxford looked dangerous on the break and one diagonal ball from Cameron Brannagan set ter Avest free on the right, but the forward line were unable to keep up and his cross went harmlessly across the area.
Sargent thought he'd scored a second goal three minutes before the break, but as Borja Sainz played the ball forward to him, he was offside and the assistant's flag was duly raised.
After ten minutes of the second half, Norwich carved out a good opportunity as the ball fell to Ante Crnak but his first-time shot drew a good stop out of Jamie Cumming.
Almost immediately United went up the other end and Harris did well to evade the attentions of Jose Cordoba and get into the City area, but Brannagan's shot from his pull back was blocked.
Cumming made an excellent stop from Crnak's long-range effort on 65 and for much of the second half it was determined defending from the U's, who kept their concentration well to prevent the goalkeeper from having too much to do.
Apart from one vital save when Sainz got past the last defender and looked to bend his shot around Cumming, who stuck out a leg to keep the scores level. This was the cue for a frantic four minutes of stoppage time when Norwich peppered the United area with crosses and shots, but could find no way through a solid U's rearguard.
The very definition of a hard-earned point at a difficult venue against a team looking for a place in the play-offs. This will give the players a huge boost of confidence as they make the long trip to Hull City on Wednesday.
UNITED: Cumming, Brown, Vaulks, Moore, Płacheta (Phillips 63), Brannagan, Harris (Mills 88), Romeny (Rodrigues 63), Matos (El Mizouni 82), ter Avest (Long 82), Helik
Unused subs: Ingram, Goodrham, Dembélé, Kioso
Attendance: 25,996 including 1,025 from Oxford
Report: Martin Brodetsky; Photography: JasonPix, Steve Edmunds
