Appleton: That was intense

Michael Appleton says it was tough to say whether Oxford's 1-1 draw with Luton was a case of a point gained or two points dropped.

"It's hard to say," he said. "I think we'll probably know that in a couple of weeks or more. "But I was delighted with the way the lads went about it. "It was a great game of football, a game that had a real intensity to it. As I said to the players, these are the kinds of games, and atmospheres, you want to play in." Promotion-chasing Luton remain fourth in League Two after the full-bloodied clash. Oxford came from behind and then did more than enough in the first part of the second half to have won the match. The Hatters, who were backed by nearly 2,300 travelling fans, took the lead when Jayden Stockley stuck out a foot to divert Shaun Whalley's miss-hit shot into the bottom right corner. Oxford were angry that play had not been stopped in the build-up to the goal when Danny Hylton appeared to have been fouled. But the U's equalised in the 43rd minute when Johnny Mullins drilled home a low shot from eight yards when Luton were unable to clear Michael Collins' right-wing cross. Oxford had Luton on the ropes after half time but Alex MacDonald twice went close with drilled low shots, Patrick Hoban had a goal disallowed for offside, and Mullins headed wide from seven yards. U's head coach Appleton said: "We had three or four glorious opportunities in the early part of the second half. "We felt there was a blatant foul in the lead-up to their goal, and the cross they scored from was also a shot that was miss-hit, so things didn't really go for us there. "More important, though, was how we came back from that. "It's two goals in a week for Johnny Mullins now, and he had an unbelievable opportunity in the second half to win it. "But the main thing from our viewpoint was that it was a great performance. "The referee was a little bit card-happy in the second half, which we found hard to understand." Luton boss John Still was satisfied with the result. "Away from home you're never disappointed to come away with a point," he said. "It was a tough game, Oxford had brought in a couple [of players] and I think that gave them a lift. "We were bright early on and I thought we deserved to get the goal when we did, but they had some very good chances in the second half. And at the death we could have snatched it. I think a draw was a fair result. "What pleased me most was our competitiveness. "We've had a good run really, a great first half of the season, and at this stage of the season you've now got to battle for everything - and we did that." The draw extended Luton's unbeaten league run to eight games, though five of those have been draws.