OXFORD United admitted they were fortunate to get away with a point as they held a revitalised Bolton Wanderers to a goalless draw.

The new-look home side were transformed from the one which were thrashed 6-1 at Rotherham United on Saturday.

United did not help themselves in a ragged opening spell where Bolton repeatedly threatened to score.

While the visitors got themselves back into the contest, they were never able to really impose themselves and deliver what had been expected.

Skipper John Mousinho admitted they were the ones who were happier with the result.

He said: “If we are going to be objective about the whole situation, then taking everything into account in the first half, I thought we could have been 4-0 down at half-time, so to come away with a point we have to be pleased with it.

READ MORE: Bolton 0, Oxford 0

“We have to be pleased with the fact we’ve played poorly, but stayed very strong, defended resolutely and come away with something.

“We’ve been dominating games and lost.”

Boss Karl Robinson felt Bolton deserved credit for the way they performed, but thought United’s positioning in the first half played into their hands.

“We gave them a foothold in the game and gave their fans something to hold on to from how high our line was,” he said.

“I didn’t think we performed well, but sometimes in this industry you’ve got to take your hat off to the opposition and they were very good.

GALLERY: The best images from last night's clash

“That’s probably the best team performance we’ve come up against.”

He added: “I said to the players ‘the football Gods were with you at times tonight’ and we haven’t been able to say that all season, where we’ve got something we probably didn’t deserve.”

United were aware Bolton would be a different proposition from the youth team which had lost heavily in the opening month of the season.

But Mousinho admitted their performance level was higher than expected.

He said: “Obviously the expectation was for us to win the game and do it handily.

“We were under no illusions this was going to be a tough game and it was probably a lot tougher than we expected.

“The message is to make sure we don’t take anything for granted, especially in this league against good sides like Bolton.”

Jamie Mackie and Shandon Baptiste dropped out of the squad from Saturday due to back and knee issues respectively, but both could be involved this weekend.