OXFORD United could not find a way through a competitive SC Wiener Neustadt defence as their pre-season friendly ended goalless in Austria.

Alex MacDonald’s early strike which struck the woodwork was the closest either side came to breaking the deadlock.

A raucous 200-strong travelling crowd generated an excellent atmosphere, but despite the U's creating the majority of the game’s chances, they drew a blank.

Nonetheless, the visitors will have benefitted from a tough workout against a side which played in the Austrian Bundesliga last season, with their only note of concern a potential knock to George Baldock.

U’s boss Michael Appleton named arguably his strongest side to start the game, with Ryan Taylor partnering Danny Hylton up front.

While the hosts already had six pre-season games under their belts, United, with Saturday's 5-0 win at Didcot Town on Saturday their only friendly, started brightly.

MacDonald was their chief threat, surging with success several times from the left flank.

The winger, who had an early shot deflected over, spun away from a tackle on 13 minutes and unleashed a shot which beat goalkeeper Martin Fraisl but struck his right-hand post.

United were on top and had a strong penalty claim turned down in the 17th minute when Fraisl bundled over Taylor.

The game may have been a friendly, but it was highly competitive and two players were booked in the first half alone.

MacDonald had his name taken for a sliding challenge, before Fraisl joined him after hauling down Hylton outside his penalty area.

At the other end Sam Slocombe had little chance to impress and easily dealt with a low shot from Markus Rusek.

The half ended as it had begun, with a MacDonald burst. On this occasion he hurdled two tackles before he was fouled by the third, earning a free-kick which Kemar Roofe curled over.

Roofe had the first opening after the break, but Fraisl was alert to the danger and raced off his line to make a smart block.

Appleton stuck to his pre-match game plan of giving players an hour before making changes.

The exception was Baldock, who appeared to pick up a knock to his right ankle late in the first half and was replaced by Sam Long at the interval.

Wiener Neustadt, whose competitive season begins on Friday, also made several changes and the game lost its rhythm for a while.

The contest caught life again in the final 15 minutes, when Callum O’Dowda came to the fore.

A pass from Josh Ruffels picked out the winger beautifully, but after turning the goalkeeper 30 yards out, he fired wide off balance.

It was the start of a strong finish from the visitors, as Fraisl twice saved from O’Dowda, before gathering a low drive from Ruffels.

That was as close as they came in the closing minutes, as the hosts held on for a draw.

SC Wiener Neustadt: Fraisl, Rusek (Seebacher 61), Takougnadi (Harrer 61), Salamon (Stefel 76), Duran, Mally (Pfingster ht), Sittsam, Maderner, Fischer (Ozmen 61), Yavuz (Ivic 57), Jatic.

Unused subs: Schierl.

Oxford Utd: Slocombe, Baldock, Mullins, Wright, Skarz, Roofe, Collins, Sercombe, MacDonald, Hylton, Taylor.

Subs used: Long (Baldock ht), Roberts (Taylor 60), Hoban (Hylton 60), O’Dowda (MacDonald 64), Rose (Collins 64), Ruffels (Sercombe 64), Ashby (Roofe 64), Dunkley (Wright 70), Hawtin (Mullins 81).

Unused subs: Brown, Hawtin, Humphreys.