A FRUSTRATED Michael Appleton rued missed opportunities as Oxford United were held to a 1-1 draw by non-league Braintree Town in yesterday’s Emirates FA Cup clash.

The U’s wasted several chances after Ryan Taylor gave them an early lead against the Vanarama National League outfit.

And United now face a first-round replay at the Kassam Stadium next week – one of six games in 17 days.

On top of that, Johnny Mullins’ dismissal and a booking for Ryan Taylor will see them both miss Wednesday’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy quarter-final tie at Dagenham & Redbridge.

Taylor headed United into the lead, but they could not find a crucial second goal.

After Kenny Davis levelled on 64 minutes, ten-man Oxford lacked a cutting edge.

Appleton said: “We won’t be pulling any punches when it comes to making sure the players are aware that we should have put the game out of sight.

“We should have won quite comfortably, but it had everything most people up and down the country would expect from the first round of the FA Cup.

“It (the replay) is a game we could have done without with injuries and suspensions, but we have got a resolute group.”

Joe Skarz started at centre half in place of injured captain Jake Wright and stressed the importance of being in tonight’s second-round draw, which is on BBC 2 at 7pm.

He said: “We knew they would be up for the occasion.

“They are a good team, but we did the hard work being 1-0 up and we had chances to make it two or three.

“We're in the hat and that’s the positive thing."