A makeshift Oxford United side was held to a 1-1 draw by Conference club Farnborough at Cherrywood Road this evening. Derek Townsley put Oxford ahead after half an hour, but Ali Chabaan equalised for the home side with 12 minutes remaining.

United included Darren Patterson, Rob Lovegrove and triallist Adam Van Domelle in central defence, in front of goalkeeper Simon Cox. Dwight Ciampoli and Andrew Scott were wingbacks with the central midfield of Townsley, David Oldfield and out-of-contract Fitzroy Simpson, once of Walsall and other insignificant clubs. Ian Atkins has already made it clear that Simpson is training with United but will not be offered a contract by the club. Manny Omoyinmi and new signing Mark Rawle were the starting pair up front.

Farnborough had a complete change of team, and strip, in the second half while United waited for ten minutes before making their first change, Rawle being replaced by Jefferson Louis, who was about as committed as Dean Windass at QPR. Further substitutions included Josias Carbon for Ciampoli, Michael Alexis for Manny, and triallist Gerard McCargo, once of Leeds United and Glenavon, for Oldfield.

In the first half Oxford played some neat passing football and, despite the second (and third) string nature of the line-up looked fairly solid and in control. After the various second half substitutions Oxford lost shape and looked distinctly second best for long periods, rarely threatening the Farnborough goal. The game was watched by a small crowd on an evening that turned to drizzle, and to top it all the admission fee was a whopping ?9, three times as much as it cost to get into Chipping Norton on Saturday, and at least there we had Jamie Brooks coming on!