Peterborough climb into play-off places after Oxford stalemate

Peterborough climbed into the League One play-off places despite being held to a goalless stalemate by struggling Oxford.

Darren Ferguson’s men rose into the top six – by virtue of having scored more goals than promotion rivals Derby – on a day when they rarely actually looked like scoring.

They could not force Oxford goalkeeper Simon Eastwood into a save of note as midfielder Ollie Norburn twice shot wide from long range in the first half and Joe Ward saw an effort brilliantly blocked by Cameron Brannagan just before half-time.

The best chance fell to an Oxford side without a win in their last 11 games, but Yanic Wildschut could only fire at the legs of goalkeeper Will Norris after being released by Marcus Browne on the half-hour mark.

Browne did succeed in finding the net eight minutes from time only for a raised flag to halt his celebrations.

But the visitors were still able to collect a second-successive away draw under new manager Liam Manning to aid their survival bid as they edged three points clear of the drop zone.