New Oxford boss Des Buckingham is still awaiting his first League One victory after four matches following a 1-1 draw at local rivals Reading.

Most of the first-half action was squeezed into a four-minute spell shortly before the interval, with Oxford going in front from a Ciaron Brown header and Sam Smith soon levelling for the hosts.

The second period proved high on endeavour yet low on quality, with neither team able to find a winner.

In the first league meeting between the clubs since April 2001, an even and quiet opening gave way to a dramatic end to the half.

Full-back Brown nodded play-off chasers Oxford in front from a Stanley Mills cross in the 39th minute, much to the delight of their near-3,000 travelling fans.

But Reading were back level in the 43rd minute, former United loanee Smith latching on to a fine Lewis Wing pass to coolly beat keeper James Beadle.

Oxford dominated most of the second period but without unduly troubling the home defence or keeper David Button, though Josh Murphy drilled narrowly wide in stoppage time.

Reading offered little going forward, apart from weak efforts from Femi Azeez and Charlie Savage that were saved by Beadle, and the game petered out into a tame draw.

Ruben Selles saluted the loyal Royals who stuck by his side after Reading ended a 378-day wait for an away league win with a 2-1 triumph at Wycombe.

Former Chairboy Lewis Wing scored the winning goal four minutes before half-time after Killian Phillips had cancelled out Sam Smith’s opener.

The under-fire boss believes his side were deserving of the three points and looked forward to brighter days after cutting the gap to League One safety.

“I know the fans have been suffering during the entire season for a lot of different reasons, one of them being us not being able to win as much away,” said Selles.

“I’m happy for them. They have always been supportive of the boys. It’s always a pleasure to have that amount of fans away from home, get a victory away from home and for the boys to celebrate together.

“We were the best team on the pitch for 100 minutes. The team is growing and I’m very proud of the players and how they played the game.”

The league’s bottom side fielded Nelson Abbey, 20, and Tyler Bindon, 18, at the heart of their defence, with full-back Andy Yiadom the only outfield player over the age of 30.

But they acquitted themselves well and saw out a victory which will have banished memories of their last away league fixture – a gut-wrenching late 3-2 defeat against Shrewsbury.

“We have a couple of young centre-backs growing with the games, getting experience with the league and we had a plan from the very beginning,” said Selles.

“We knew after the second goal, if we started to go lower and lower, we would get in trouble. But the team continued applying the pressure with the high-line.

“We were not defending for 50 minutes. It was a pleasure we could keep a good team like our opponent today away from our goal in the second half.”

Wycombe boss Matt Bloomfield was left to bemoan a growing injury list as his side’s winless league run stretched to six matches.

“It isn’t easy,” said Bloomfield. “We’ve got nine to 10 injuries and some big players are missing.

“It feels like we’re making at least one or two changes regularly due to injury, which is tough, but ultimately we have to be better than what we were.

“Competing for the second balls, running, heading, tackling, those little bits that go into a performance that are actually massive.

“I’ve said many times this season how proud I am of the performance but today wasn’t one of those days.

“We were poor and we have to make sure we’re ready to bounce back on Tuesday evening against Barnsley.”

Ruben Selles wants his Reading team to be more ruthless after their woeful away form continued with a 3-2 defeat at Shrewsbury.

Sam Smith and Dom Ballard put the Royals 2-0 up inside the opening 15 minutes and they looked on course to put a winless run on the road to bed.

But Shrewsbury pulled one back through Tom Bayliss before half-time, and then two Shrews defenders spoilt the party in additional time.

Chey Dunkley bundled home in the second minute of stoppage time, and then Jason Sraha, with virtually the last kick of the game, smashed home the winner.

Selles, whose side have now failed to win away from home in the league for over a year, said: “It is painful; it has been like that for some games. I think we did a lot of good things during the game.

“We were leading 2-0 and we should have been leading more than two, but we didn’t finish the job.

“Second half, we had situations in which we were not ruthless enough, and at the end we were not ruthless enough to keep the result or to get something positive.

“My team would defend the corners better (if he had his time again).

“We will analyse, but we need to be more ruthless in the manner and the one-on-ones.

“We know how much it means to us to get points away and how much it means to us to get the three points.

“We cannot concede a goal in the centre of our goal with the ball just below our hips.

“We need to be more ruthless in the marking, in the clearance and attacking the space, we need to do it better.

“We need to demand more from each other.”

Shrews boss Matt Taylor said: “What I can do is talk about the first 15 minutes, which is unacceptable.

“Great, the emotion, great, we won the game, but people have got jobs to do, and they do not do them.

“That first 15 minutes really disappoints me. As a group, that is not what we are about.

“We scored a really good goal to get back in the game, you are given roles and responsibilities and what I cannot do is come out here and brush it under the carpet.

“I cannot come out here and not own it, from my perspective, that first 15 minutes is unacceptable.

“We got the second goal and there seemed to be an uprising in belief in the players.

“I must make a special mention for Jason because he gets that moment tonight.

“Having seen how hard he has worked and understanding his injury history and coming into the team at a difficult time, he has really taken his opportunity.”

Reading’s woeful away form continued after Jason Sraha snatched a late winner for Shrewsbury in a dramatic 3-2 victory.

The Royals opened the scoring in the 12th minute.

David Button’s goal-kick was brought down by Sam Smith inside the area and he powered it into the back of the net off a post.

Reading doubled their advantage inside 15 minutes as Andy Yiadom stood up a floated cross into the box. Goalkeeper Marko Marosi attempted to catch, but Dominic Ballard won the aerial duel and headed it home.

Shrewsbury pulled a goal back in the 33rd minute. Max Mata dispossessed a defender and the New Zealand international laid the ball off to Tom Bayliss, who converted from a tight angle.

The Shrews, in time added on, grabbed an equaliser through a corner routine which concluded with Chey Dunkley bundling home inside the box.

But with virtually the last kick of the game, Sraha stabbed home to win it for Matt Taylor’s side.

Reading manager Ruben Selles urged his team to be more ruthless in front of goal after a scrappy 1-1 home draw with Bristol Rovers in League One.

Bottom-of-the-table Reading went ahead five minutes before the interval when striker Sam Smith rifled in his first goal of the season.

But Rovers levelled in the 57th minute when former Reading loanee Chris Martin lofted a fine shot over home keeper David Button.

Reading are now winless in eight league matches.

“Football is all about moments and we had a moment to make it 2-0 [Harvey Knibbs’ chance shortly before half-time],” Selles said.

“Then, in the second half, they scored their goal. But we had many situations to score our second one and we didn’t do it.

“When we did make that pressure with that action from Sam, it was good that he got his goal.

“But we can be better in this area, with our finishing. We had a lot of ball in the opposition half but in those situations, we need to get in more shots and more shots on target.

“We made a lot of turnarounds, when we won the ball, but we made some mistakes after that.

“If we want to be competitive, we have to take advantage of these good positions.

“It is not about individual players missing these chances, it is about all of us. We have been in these situations before. It is as a team that we need to take these chances.

”We have been making a rotation in our League One squad. And I have been trying to be consistent with 80 per cent of the team.

“When we make our selections, we always try to have some options.”

Rovers caretaker manager Andy Mangan is now unbeaten in three league and FA Cup matches in charge since replacing the sacked Joey Barton last month.

“The feeling in the dressing room, it’s really frustrated,” Mangan said. “I feel like the result has cost us three points.

“We’ve created several chances, going right through to the very end.

“We felt like we played well throughout and we had the better chances over the 90 minutes. We all know that.

“We cost ourselves on the first goal. And it’s always hard when you’re 1-0 down.

“But we showed a lot of guts in the team to come back. We were really positive at half-time.

“We came out firing in the second half. The first 20 minutes, we managed to get that goal.

“And although we might have dropped off a bit after that, I still thought we should have won the game in the end.”

Reading remain rooted to the bottom of League One and are now winless in eight matches after they were held to a scrappy 1-1 draw by Bristol Rovers at the SCL Stadium.

After a disjointed first half, Reading went in front in the 40th minute when Sam Smith drove home his first goal of the season.

Chris Martin levelled for Rovers in the 57th minute, but the game drifted towards a stalemate long before the end.

Rovers had made the first impression with a good run and shot from Aaron Collins that home goalkeeper David Button had to push away.

Reading barely threatened going forward and there was a three-minute delay after tennis balls were thrown on to the pitch as part of the ongoing home protests against Reading owner Dai Yongge.

On the resumption, Reading grew into the game and went ahead five minutes before the break when striker Smith rifled in a fine angled drive after Harvey Knibbs had dispossessed Ryan Woods.

Button saved smartly from Jevani Brown and Collins early in the second period, but Martin, a former Reading loanee, equalised with a well-struck rising effort past the keeper.

Neither side showed much creativity in going for the winner as the game petered out into a tame draw.