Blackburn Rovers and Oxford United shared the points in a tight bottom-half battle at Ewood Park.

Oxford struck first when Ciaron Brown smashed home a half-volley in first-half stoppage time after a scrambled free-kick.

Rovers improved after the break and levelled through Todd Cantwell’s composed penalty following a handball by Jack Currie.

Both teams had chances in the final 15 minutes but a lack of quality in the final third ensured the match ended all square.

With all the criticism of the Ewood Park pitch that followed Saturday’s abandonment against Sheffield Wednesday, at least Rovers had an extra 30 or so minutes more recovery time in the build up to Tuesday night’s affair.

That potential energy advantage however could not help their struggles in front of goal however as they had to rely on a penalty to save their blushes despite creating an expected goals of 2.34 from their 16 attempts.

It was Oxford who had looked the brighter side early on with Greg Leigh heading wide in the eighth minute unmarked in the box.

Mark Harris then went close for the visitors as he tried to pick out the bottom left corner from the edge of the area but guided it just past the post.

Making up for their previous efforts, Brown’s opener came from a recycled free-kick that caused chaos in the box before the defender lashed into the top corner for his first goal of the season.

Valerien Ismael’s have scored just 19 league goals this season – the joint-second fewest in the Championship – but they responded well in trying to find an equaliser.

Yuki Ohashi powered in a header at close range into Jamie Cumming’s gloves and then the Japan international’s deflected whipped cross sailed just wide 15 minutes from time.

But Rovers incessant pressure paid off soon after as a handball from Currie gave referee Leigh Doughty no choice but to point to the spot with Cantwell calmly slotting home to deny Gary Rowett’s side victory and extend the U’s winless midweek run to nine games.