Chris Wilder praised his players' determination, but could not hide his frustration at their lack of discipline in the final 20 minutes of last night's Blue Square Premier game at Kettering.

The Oxford United boss saw his side come back from 1-0 down early on to draw 1-1 through Kevin Sandwith's 20th-minute strike.

But after the hosts were reduced to ten men for the final 20 minutes, the U's lacked the killer punch to win the game – despite Alex Rhodes seeing a last-gasp effort saved on the line by home keeper Lee Harper.

"I can't fault my players for the first 70 minutes," Wilder said.

"But I was disappointed with the last period, when we should have had enough to win the game.

"Too many players didn't have enough about them to make the right decisions when it really mattered.

"However, this is a tough place to come and a draw is a good result. Four points from two tough games – I'd have taken that."

Wilder had no complaints about the Kettering goal, which came from the penalty spot after goalkeeper Ryan Clarke brought down Jean-Paul Marna.

"It was a penalty," he said. "Adam Chapman should have cleared it, but didn't, and it was a foul."

Kettering boss Mark Cooper launched into referee Russell Fletcher.

The Poppies chief blasted: "If the referee's assessor does his job properly, that official will not be refereeing for quite a while."

l Former Oxford United defender Matt Day is set to sign for Oxford City on a one-year contract.

Day could make his debut in Saturday’s Southern League opener against Cambridge City at Court Place Farm.

The 22-year-old, who made 86 appearances for the U’s, 25 of them as substitute and scored seven goals, was released by Wilder at the end of last season.