Rami Al Hajj scored a second half equaliser for bottom-of-the-table Plymouth Argyle as they drew 1-1 with Oxford United at Home Park in their first match under new head coach Miron Muslic.
While the Pilgrims showed character to come from behind they did not play particularly well throughout, apart from a spell in the first half, and given their worrying league position this was a game which they needed to win.
They could even have lost it in second half stoppage time but goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw made two excellent saves from U’s substitute Siriki Dembele to prevent his side suffering a damaging defeat.
Argyle are unbeaten in four games now, which is one positive for them to take, but they are going to have to start picking up maximum points from matches – and soon – to stand any chance of staying up.
Oxford had taken the lead in the 44th minute with a Will Vaulks thunderbolt but Al Hajj put the home side level in the 64th minute when he headed home a cross from Tymoteusz Puchacz.
Argyle took on Oxford without Conor Hazard, who had kept clean sheets in the previous two games, the 0-0 Championship draw at Stoke City and the FA Cup upset of Brentford, but was ruled out by injury..
That meant a return between the posts for Grimshaw, who had last played for the Pilgrims in the 4-0 Boxing Day defeat away to Coventry City.
With the announcement shortly before kick-off that experienced third choice keeper Marko Marosi had left the club, 20-year-old Zak Baker was the goalkeeping cover for Grimshaw on the bench.
Grimshaw for Hazard was one of four changes to the team from the win against Brentford. There was a first start for Poland international left-back Tymoteusz Puchacz after he made his debut as a substitute late in the FA Cup tie.
Also coming into the side were Darko Gyabi and Al Hajj, with Callum Wright, Matty Sorinola and Caleb Roberts dropping down to the bench. With Puchacz at left-back that meant Bali Mumba moved across to right wing-back, and renewed his partnership on that side of the pitch with Morgan Whittaker, who has been the subject of a bid from Championship rivals Burnley.
It was only 16 days since Argyle had faced Oxford, and lost 2-0 to them at the Kassam Stadium, in what turned out to be Wayne Rooney’s last game as head coach.
The return match saw Muslic receive a warm welcome from a packed Home Park as he took up his place in the technical area for his first match in charge.
There was a moment of very early concern for Argyle when they struggled to clear an Oxford long throw-in by Will Vaulks into the penalty area and eventually Grimshaw had to stretch to punch the ball clear.
That set the tone for the opening stages of the game as Oxford had a lot of the ball in Argyle territory while the home side made a couple of sloppy mistakes and found it difficult to get any flow to their play.
However, Argyle did threaten for the first time in the ninth minute when an excellent diagonal pass from Adam Randell found Puchacz in space out on the left.
Puchacz cut the ball back to Al Hajj, whose sidefoot shot was superbly clawed high to his left by Jamie Cumming and the loose ball was sent into the side netting by Mumba from a very tight angle.
Al Hajj got into another good scoring position soon afterwards but his strike from 20 yards just did not have enough curl on it to go into Cumming’s left post.
Whittaker then dragged the ball wide from a similar distance out as his trusty left foot let him down on this occasion after the ball was rolled back to him by Al Hajj.
Argyle had started to get into their stride and Al Hajj was behind a lot of their best moments. The Swedish midfielder had his side’s next chance when he got his head to a Mumba cross but the ball went well wide of the target.
Puchacz as the left wing-back was getting into a lot of good attacking positions and crashed one shot over the bar from just inside the Oxford box as the Pilgrims pushed for an opening goal.
Argyle goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw is beaten as Oxford’s Will Vaulks scores with a shot from outside the penalty area in the Championship match at Home Park on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 – Photo: Dave Rowntree/PPAUK
Whittaker then had a shot deflected wide for a corner off U’s defender Ciaron Brown after a good move ended with club record signing Michael Baidoo, on his home debut, making the final pass to him.
Argyle had been having much the better of the play but a defensive mix-up in the 44th minute proved costly as Mark Harris picked up possession with centre-back Victor Palsson out of position. The U’s striker rolled the ball inside to Vaulks, who ran onto the pass and crashed a 20-yard shot past Grimshaw as it flew into the net.
It meant Argyle trailed at the break and that would have been hugely disappointing for them because after their early start they had taken control of the match.
As in the first half, Oxford were soon troubling Argyle in the second period with a couple of long throw-ins from Vaulks and while it did not lead to any scoring chances it allowed them to gain some attacking momentum.
Then from a free-kick inside argyle territory, Jordan Thorniley sent a header wide after an expertly flighted cross into the penalty area from Matt Phillips.
Argyle, in contrast, had lost their rhythm completely and it was the visitors who looked more likely to get a second goal than the home side an equaliser.
Oxford left-back Greg Leigh could not make a connection on a low cross into the box from the left by Cameron Brannagan before Argyle threatened for the first time in the second half.
Puchacz put in an excellent low cross which seemed destined for Whittaker to tap in at the far post but Oxford defender Ciaron Brown slid in to make a last ditch clearance for a corner.
Argyle did draw level in the 64th minute, though, when Al Hajj guided a header into the far corner of the net after a cross from Puchacz for his third goal since signing for the Pilgrims at the end of the summer transfer window.
Al Hajj was taken off in the 75th minute as Muslic made his first substitution with Michael Obafemi sent on to lead the attack for the Pilgrims and Baidoo dropped into one of the two number 10 roles alongside Whittaker.
Argyle still found it hard to get any control on the game going into the closing stages as Oxford continued to test their hosts with a series of long throw-ins.
Ibrahim Cissoko was sent on as an attacking substitute for Palsson in the 85th minute and Argyle switched to a back four in an attempt to apply some pressure on Oxford.
Two further changes followed in the 89th minute as Puchacz, who had been suffering from cramp, and Gyabi made way for Nathanael Ogbeta and Jordan Houghton.
Oxford almost regained the lead in the second minute of stoppage time after a break from substitute Siriki Dembele whose strike on goal was brilliantly pushed away by Grimshaw.
The Argyle ‘keeper then had to make another excellent save from another fierce Dembele strike after he had punched clear an initial cross into the box and it meant the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
ARGYLE: Dan Grimshaw; Julio Pleguezuelo, Victor Palsson (Ibrahim Cissoko 85 mins), Brendan Galloway; Bali Mumba, Adam Randell, Darko Gyabi (Jordan Houghton 89 mins), Tymoteusz Puchacz (Nathanael Ogbeta 89 mins); Morgan Whittaker, Rami Al Hajj (Michael Obafemi 75 mins); Michael Baidoo.
Substitutes (not used): Zak Baker, Callum Wright, Mustapha Bundu, Matty Sorinola, Caleb Roberts.
OXFORD: Jamie Cumming; Peter Kioso, Sam Long (Jordan Thorniley 43 mins), Ciaron Brown, Greg Leigh; Will Vaulks, Cameron Branagan; Przemyslaw Placheta (Siriki Dembele 68 mins), Ruben Rodrigues (Alex Matos 77 mins), Matt Phillips (Hidde Ter Avest 77 mins); Mark Harris (Dane Scarlett 68 mins).
Substitutes (not used): Matt Ingram, Josh McEachran, Louie Sibley, Idris El Mizouni.
REFEREE: Sam Allison
ATTENDANCE: 15,933
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