DURHAM manager Lee Sanders feels his side only have themselves to blame after they let a two-goal lead slip in their 2-2 draw at bottom club Oxford United.

The Wildcats looked to be heading towards their fourth win in six games after an hour thanks to goals from Jemma Purfield and Beth Hepple but were denied by Lauren Allison's penalty after Kayleigh Hines pulled one back.

Sanders said: "Even though it's no excuse we lost our captain Caroline Dixon a couple of weeks ago and we've now lost our other centre half Sarah Wilson who looks like she's broken her arm.

"We've got two 17-year-old kids in there and it's been tough because we've had to make a few changes for this game.

"We've had some good opportunities to close the game out and we've got to look at ourselves with the goals we have conceded.

"Oxford's first goal didn't come from what we would consider a dangerous free kick - you would expect your goalkeeper or one of the girls defending there to deal with that."

Durham went ahead after 32 minutes when Emily Scott's drilled cross picked out Purfield, who stabbed the ball beyond Demi Lambourne.

The visitors doubled their advantage just after the hour mark when Hepple's free kick from wide on the left drifted into the top corner, where Lambourne had no chance of reaching.

But Oxford found themselves back in the game when Hines flicked in Jemma Connor-Iommi's free kick at the near post with a quarter of the game still to play.

And the U's drew level with 12 minutes left when Zoe Ness clipped Laura Low in the area and Allison smashed her penalty low past Anna Moorhouse.

Oxford boss Les Taylor said: "We started the game off really well and dominated play but, like with any games, if you give opponents a chance they'll take and that's what Durham did.

"They had probably one or two chances first half and scored from one of them while we had three or four but couldn't find the back of the net.

"We then conceded a second from the free kick but at 2-0 down we were still positive because we thought that if we could get a goal back, we'd be back in the game.

"We managed to get one from a set play then we had a penalty and I think the draw was a fair result."

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