KARL Robinson thought Oxford United’s point at Peterborough United showed they were going in the right direction.

The season began with away trips to Barnsley and Portsmouth, where they were thrashed 4-0 and 4-1 respectively.

Although they have since drawn 1-1 at Sunderland, the Wearsiders played for 70 minutes with ten men, so Saturday’s 2-2 draw at another of the promotion contenders was seen as another step forward.

Robinson, United’s head coach, said: “It’s a difficult place to play and you know they are going to be in the top-six this year.

“But if you came down and didn’t know what was going on you wouldn’t think there was a gulf between the teams.

“We’ve come a long way in a short period of time.”

He added: “We wish Peterborough luck but I’m sure they’ll look back and think ‘Oxford are a good team’.”

Robinson admitted to having reason to feel extra nervous over the late penalty which sealed the result, though.

His last visit was in March, when he was in charge of a Charlton Athletic side who missed the chance to equalise from the spot and went on to lose 4-1.

So when the U’s were given a chance from 12 yards at the same end of London Road, it was a tense moment before James Henry converted to earn the draw.

The head coach, who had not watched the midfielder’s penalty against Gillingham last month, said: “I thought ‘here we go again’.

“I was relatively nervous at that stage.

“I didn’t watch his one the other week, but some of the fans had a go at me and told me to look.

“I did and thankfully he scored.”