QPR 1, Oxford Utd 1 SIMON Marsh and Paul Powell came of age at Loftus Road last night as lively Oxford United heaped further worries on QPR boss Ray Harford.

Young defenders Marsh and Powell were thrown in at the deep end when left-sided centre back Phil Gilchrist had to go off after just nine minutes of this Division 1 game with a groin injury.

Marsh was shoved back to centre half and, with the inexperienced Powell behind the even more raw Jamie Cook on the left flank, many United fans must have had serious worries about their team surviving.

But Marsh coped magnificently with Mike Sheron and Kevin Gallen alongside 'father figure' Steve Davis, and Powell gave his best performance for the club with a brilliant display of pacy attacking and intelligent tracking-back and tackling.

For Harford, who had already lost twice to Oxford this season - 2-1 at The Hawthorns when West Brom manager and then 3-1 at the Manor in his first game as Rangers boss - facing the Yellows at this stage of the season was like his worst nightmare.

This was a game relegation- threatened QPR badly needed to win, but for long periods they were outplayed by a sharp United side who could count themselves unlucky not to win. They dominated the first half and took the lead on 25 minutes when Marsh powered in a header at a Joey Beauchamp corner which keeper Lee Harper saved superbly with one hand. The loose ball fell to Davis and he deftly hooked it back over his head and into the goal from eight yards.

The celebrations were all the sweeter for Davis. On his previous visit to Loftus Road he broke his leg.

Some of United's football in the first 45 minutes was spellbinding. Marsh and Powell combined telepathically down the left on one raid with a series of passes, but Powell's cross was cut out by Harper before it could reach Kevin Francis.

When Francis was cynically brought down by Karl Ready, the Rangers centre half was fortunate that there was a covering defender behind and he escaped with a yellow card.

At the other end, Nicky Banger was booked for diving to try to earn a penalty.

The U's should have gone in at half-time two up and would have done so with a bit more luck. From Beauchamp's long free-kick, Francis chested down and Murphy drove in a 20-yard shot which deflected off Marsh and smacked against the bar with Harper well beaten. In the second half, and sensing the gravity of their situation, QPR played with greater urgency and started to stretch Oxford more.

Yet United were harshly treated in the 69th minute when Powell dribbled into the area and was tripped by Nigel Quashie, who injured himself in the process. The referee was close to the incident but dipped out of awarding a penalty.

Ready headed against the post 14 minutes from time and with nine minutes left Sheron swept the ball across from the right to Kevin Gallen who side-footed home to the huge relief of home fans.

After that Phil Whitehead saved from Sheron and twice brilliantly from Gallen but a point was the very least that United deserved.

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