Oxford Utd 0, Sunderland 0 SUBSTITUTE Andy Thomson came within three inches of a shock late winner against the runaway Division 1 leaders Sunderland in British football's first pay-per-view League game at the Manor on Saturday evening.

Latching on to a defensive clearance from Chris Makin, the Scot turned and fired in a left-footed shot which beat goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen but came back off the inside of a post and then just evaded the long leg of Kevin Francis on its way back.

Almost immediately, play swung down the other end. Makin cut in from the left and curled a brilliant right-footed shot from 20 yards which looked to be heading for the top right corner until his former Oldham teammate Paul Gerrard dived full-length to turn it around a post.

A disappointing game for Sky, and all those who had forked out £7.95 to see it, had suddenly burst into life in the final few minutes.

At the end, though, both teams seemed satisfied with a point. For Sunderland, the draw took them to the 70-point mark, more than last year's champions Nottingham Forest had at the same stage, while Oxford had gained another vital point in their bid to beat the drop - plus a measure of revenge for their club record 7-0 drubbing at the Stadium of Light last September.

Results had gone well for United earlier in the afternoon with both Port Vale and Bury thumped 4-0 and Bristol City losing 1-0 at home to Ipswich, their conquerors last week.

The U's were also boosted by not seeing Lee Clark at the kick-in. Sunderland's former England midfielder was absent on compassionate grounds after his daughter had developed pneumonia.

Peter Reid's team suffered another blow when Niall Quinn hobbled off with a calf injury on nine minutes to be replaced by Danny Dichio.

Oxford's players employed the same tactics as against Chelsea, closing down quickly and not giving their opponents time on the ball.

The result was that Sunderland, by some way the highest goalscorers in the country, had to wait until the 43rd minute before they managed their first shot on target, a 20-yarder from Allan Johnston. Gerrard dived slightly too early for it and was surprised as it bounced off his body before he recovered.

While Sunderland poured men forward at every raid, with all the confidence of a team running away with the division, United really only looked threatening from set-pieces or when Paul Powell embarked on one of his mesmerising dribbles. He produced one in the third minute and when Nicky Banger continued the move with a deep cross, Joey Beauchamp surprised the Sunderland defence by keeping the ball in play with a hook-back from the bye-line.

Dean Windass saw a shot deflected for a corner which Sorensen dropped under pressure from Francis.

But on 15 minutes, Oxford had a big let-off. Holloway chipped the ball into the penalty area and Dichio had a free header with just Gerrard to beat. Had it been Quinn, it would have been buried, but Dichio failed to get enough power on his header and glanced it two yards wide.

Francis created a volley chance for himself with a flick over a defender which could almost have been mistaken for skill, and the shot struck Andy Melville.

Everything seemed to be hitting bodies. A few minutes later, Makin drove a 20-yard free-kick into the Oxford wall.

Mark Watson's long throw-ins caused some problems and from one, just before half-time, Francis headed back and it needed a strong defensive header from Paul Butler to clear the danger.

Watson and Phil Gilchrist were outstanding in central defence for Oxford and the Canadian showed his classy reading of the game by cleaning up when Johnston dithered too long on a shooting opportunity and then tried to find Kevin Phillips.

The match was still very bitty but, apart from a downward header from Francis into the side-netting from Windass's cross, Sunderland were starting to get on top. Phillips was denied by Gerrard, diving spectacularly to his right, when the ball flicked off Watson's head and then,18 minutes from time, Gavin McCann had the clearest opportunity of the match to find the net.

Phillips's pass set him through on goal but he got the ball caught between his feet and shot tamely wide.

Joey Beauchamp cut in from the left and had a shot saved, and this was the catalyst for an action-packed final few minutes.

But by then, surely only the committed followers of the two clubs had stayed the distance.

Any neutral paying to view had probably long ago switched over to Noel Edmonds or Blind Date.

Story date: Monday 01 March

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