OXFORD United battled their way to a determined and hard-earned draw at play-off hopefuls Norwich City.
It was a game for sticking together, maintaining concentration and keeping to a new shape.
United head coach Gary Rowett switched from his customary 4-2-3-1 formation to a 3-5-2 set-up, and over the course of the 90 minutes, it helped the U’s claim a respected point.
We had a look at the key talking points from Carrow Road.
Change of formation for United
There is only one place to start, and that is the alteration to how the U’s were organised.
In the three-man central defensive unit, Michal Helik and Ciaron Brown were either side of Elliott Moore, while Hidde ter Avest and Przemyslaw Placheta provided the width from wing back.
Alex Matos joined Cameron Brannagan and Will Vaulks in midfield, and Ole Romeny partnered Mark Harris up front.
The back three was solid overall, and made 27 clearances between them, and wing backs ter Avest and Placheta covered plenty of ground.
The obvious matter would be how Placheta got on defensively, and with five minutes on the clock, he was caught out by the run of Canaries right back Kellen Fisher, who then crossed for the Josh Sargent opener.
Placheta was the recipient of jeers from his former club, and United looked more comfortable on that side when Matt Phillips replaced Placheta just after the hour mark.
Phillips has played as a wing back under Rowett within matches, and from the moment he came on at Carrow Road, he stuck to his task with great professionalism and helped the U’s see out the game.
Encouraging strike partnership
Harris and Romeny worked well together, creating for one another when United got the ball into dangerous areas.
Inside the first 60 seconds, Harris pinched the ball off Jacob Sorensen, allowing Romeny to fire a left-footed effort into the gloves of Vicente Reyes.
Harris then got on the scoresheet when he scrapped home after a long throw-in from Vaulks, and in the second half, Harris got into the right channel of the penalty box, however Romeny was unable to make contact with the cutback.
There were enough promising signs though to suggest that the duo can work well together.
Most impressive away result?
The U’s have one away win this season – the 1-0 victory at Millwall on New Year’s Day.
Six away draws had been collected prior to the trip to Carrow Road, and all of them came against sides battling in the middle or lower end of the division.
Although not taking anything away from the win against Millwall, the draw with a Canaries side chasing to be in the play-offs felt like a more impressive result.
The Canaries were the league’s second top scorers going into the game, plundering 41 goals on home soil.
United restricted them though and made it a difficult evening, therefore the draw feels like the most admirable away result so far this season.