Ryan Clarke was the toast of his Oxford United teammates after a brilliant late penalty save earned his team a rare draw at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday.

Tom Craddock, who scored United’s goal the 1-1 draw against Cheltenham, said: “Clarkey makes some fantastic saves, and he’s done that for us again.

“We all gave him a pat on the back today.”

The U’s, who slipped to ninth in npower League Two after their first draw for four months, nevertheless felt it was an opportunity missed because they dominated for long spells against a Cheltenham side who stretched their unbeaten away run to eight.

“We were a little bit disappointed we didn’t get the three points,” Craddock said.

“We had some chances, I had a couple and should probably have put one of them away.

“Hopefully we can put that right against Southend on Tuesday.”

Craddock took his season’s tally to 13, to move above Constable’s 12, although two of his goals came for former club Luton.

“I don’t think we’re in competition really,” he said. “I was pleased with the goal, but would have swapped it for three points.”

Manager Chris Wilder said: “I thought we did enough to get the win, but we didn’t.

“And we were indebted to Ryan Clarke at the end.

“I didn’t see much in the penalty, but he got us out of it, and all credit to him.

“Our play was good. But, after getting ourselves back in it, we started to over-elaborate at times just before half-time.

“And we really should have gone for the jugular there and then.

“The disappointment is that we have not beaten a side that has been in and around it (the play-offs) all season, so we’ve come a long way in a short space of time.”

The U’s boss was not alone in questioning whether it should have been a spot-kick ten minutes from time, with Anthony Tonkin adjudged to have fouled Brian Smikle.

“From where I stood, I couldn’t see there was much difference between that and the one on Damian Batt the other night,” he said.

The referee last Tuesday awarded United a penalty against Shrewsbury for a challenge on Batt in the area, but then over-ruled his decision after speaking with a linesman.

Tonkin too felt it was not a penalty.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “The referee was looking through two players.

“But it was probably a challenge I didn’t need to make.”