Matt Bloomfield disappointed as Oxford United held to draw

Oxford United manager Matt Bloomfield admitted he was “terribly disappointed” after his side conceded a late penalty to settle for a 1-1 draw against Charlton Athletic.
Charlie Kelman converted a 91st-minute spot-kick after Ciaron Brown fouled Lloyd Jones, handing the Addicks a share of the points.

Oxford had taken the lead earlier in the second half through Cameron Brannagan, who scored from the penalty spot. It was the U’s first successful penalty in 675 days and their first since returning to the Championship.

“Because of the timing of the goal against, it feels really disappointing that we didn’t get the three points,” Bloomfield said after the match. “The second half had a really good energy. The first half wasn’t quite where we needed to be, and we addressed that at halftime.

“This wasn’t going to be a free-flowing game; it was always going to be highly competitive, which is what we saw. We needed to be more proactive—first half we were a bit reactive. From the second-half kickoff, I felt we were the better team. We had momentum and scored the goal.”

Bloomfield highlighted Oxford’s other opportunities, noting that Will Lankshear had a shot cleared off the line and that Shemmy Placheta and Aidomo Emakhu missed chances they could have converted.

“If we’d scored a second goal, the game would likely have been won in our favour. At 1-0, there’s always a risk the opposition can come back, which is what happened. While we’re disappointed, earning 10 points from the last four games is a positive.”

Despite Oxford creating multiple chances during open play, Charlton’s penalty was their only shot on target in the match. Emakhu was also muscled off the ball in a promising first-half position, and Lankshear had a near-miss shortly after Brannagan’s strike.

“We wanted to kill the game off with a second goal,” Bloomfield added. “We had chances from open play that didn’t go in. It’s important to stay composed even when it’s frustrating to drop points due to late goals. Of course, we’d have loved to win, and it’s disappointing that we couldn’t.”