Sam Ricketts confident Shrewsbury goals will come

Town earned a hard-working point in a goalless draw at the Kassam Stadium against the high-flying U's.

It was the ninth clean sheet of the League One campaign for Town and also the ninth time they have failed to find the net in 18 games.

Shrewsbury flew out the traps and dominated the in-form hosts creating good chances early on but struggled to maintain that as Oxford came on strong.

Ricketts, who again insisted he did not set up his side to defend for a point at the Kassam, believes once Town can convert a chance more are on the horizon.

"There’s not really much more that can be done really to be honest if we look at the situations we get ourselves into," said Ricketts.

"The number of balls that came into their box in the first 20 minutes, there’s one cleared off the line off a set piece, another good save off a well-worked set piece with Dave Edwards peeling round and the keeper made a good save down to his right hand side.

"We just need, whether it’s that bit of luck or that bit of quality or that final pass, final shot to up it. I think once we get one, we’ll go on and get twos and threes.

“A couple of their players spoke to me after the game who I don’t know and said what a good team we are and it’s always a good respect when the home side say things like that.

"To come away from home to a team that hasn’t lost in so many games and like I said we were the better side and I'm really pleased.”

Town switched their system from the usually 3-4-3 to a 5-4-1 against Oxford, who had managed 37 goals in 17 games this term.

The Shrews boss, whose side are 12th in League One, added: “I thought we were well worth our point today. I thought for the first half we were by far the better team.

"(They had) A few half chances, the keeper didn’t have to make a real save.

"I thought we were outstanding first half against a team that I think are up there with some of the best teams in the league so I'm really pleased.

"Second half, at times we’re going have to dig in especially away from home and we did that, and we still had opportunities on the break, so I'm delighted with the performance and happy with a point.

"We didn’t just come here to defend. You see in the first half letting the defenders have the ball, for me isn’t a defensive thing, we were just waiting and picking our moments of when to go.

"I thought we were outstanding, and we started the game very well and overall it was an excellent performance.

"We were the ones pressing (early on) and you could hear the home supporters getting frustrated which is always a mark of how well the away team are doing.

"Like I said, I'm delighted with the performance and I thought we were excellent and we’re happy with a point. I would’ve been delighted with three but happy with one.”