KARL Robinson felt the EFL's new substitutions rule helped change the game for Oxford United at Portsmouth.

The U's boss brought on Jordan Obita, Mark Sykes and Marcus McGuane with the visitors 1-0 down shortly after the hour mark at Fratton Paek.

The latter almost made an impact immediately with a shot that was tipped around the post by Pompey keeper Craig MacGillivray as the momentum swung United's way.

Read also: Alex Gorrin happy to take penalty responsibiilty for Oxford United at Portsmouth

Seven minutes later United were level through Alex Gorrin's penalty, while Robinson was still able to bring on Matty Taylor and John Mousinho thanks to last week's rule change allowed five replacements per side.

The U's head coach believes this gave him more freedom to try to affect the game.

He said: “When you see the calibre of players that we didn’t start you know you’re bringing on players who have a real desire.

“I’m really pleased with the subs who came on.

“You wouldn’t do that with only three subs, but I made the three knowing I had two spares.

“That doesn’t half make a difference to us.”

Read the match report here

United could have been 3-0 down at half-time, with John Marquis and Jack Whatmough going close for the hosts after Sean Raggett put them ahead.

But the visitors looked just as likely to claim victory after drawing level and Robinson felt it was an important point for his side.

He said: “We’re a team that’s evolving.

“We’ve got a lot more work to do and we’re nowhere near we want to be.

“We just hope we can build on this as we’ve got some very difficult games to come.

“There’s no time to breath and rest, they come thick and fast.”