As expected, Tariqe Fosu came in for Jamie Ward, who was also on the bench.
After Saturday’s magnificent performance against Barnsley, there was always the danger that this game would have an after the Lord Mayor’s Show feel to it. Unfortunately that is how it turned out.
Charlton had the better of things after a sluggish start, but rarely tested Simon Eastwood in the Oxford goal.
The Addicks took the lead after 25 minutes thanks to a move of real quality. Lyle Taylor played a superb cross field ball to Ben Reeves on the right.
Reeves beat his man on the byline but was hauled down by the keeper for a clear penalty.
Taylor ignored Oxford’s delaying tactics and hammered the ball hard, high and straight down the middle to give the hosts the lead.
The second period started much the same as the first, with Oxford starting the brighter, before Charlton edged their way into the game.
It was a niggly affair but Oxford restored parity midway through the half in controversial circumstances.
Josh Cullen lay stricken in the centre circle with a head injury, but Dean Whitestone allowed play to continue. Substitute Whyte had only been on a few minutes when he fired in a speculative effort from wide on the right.
Unfortunately for the Addicks it ended up in the back of Jed Steer’s goal.
Charlton huffed and puffed, but never seriously threatened to get the winner. Bowyer’s side struggled to overcome Karl Robinson’s spoiling tactics, and created little.
Robinson drew very little reaction from the home fans, but the returning Ricky Holmes was barracked all night.
Bowyer was frustrated after the game, and viewed it as two points dropped:
“It was a very frustrating evening for a number of reasons. We didn’t really play today. I thought we started off alright, but then they stopped us well.
“Their game plan seemed to be working and they just came to disrupt things with the way they set up.
“They kept buying fouls, slowing everything down and, even when they were losing, they weren’t even trying to hurry things up – maybe they thought they would score at some time, but fair play to them.
“They got a point, but we didn’t do the right things, the final ball in the final third wasn’t good.
“We gave the ball away and made the wrong decisions, but we’re going to have to get used to that because that’s what teams are going to do. They’re going to come and try and make things difficult for us, but you have to keep going.
“It’s two points dropped, for me. You can’t be dropping points like that at home. But it’s football and we’ve got another game on Saturday, so we have to make sure we’re ready for that and go again, said Bowyer.
The manager then gave his thoughts on Oxford’s controversial equaliser:
“To be fair, I don’t think their goal should have stood. There was a head injury to Josh Cullen on the floor and the fourth official was shouting and telling the ref that it was a head injury, but they’ve gone and put one on the top corner.
“On Saturday, we had the same situation against one of their players when we were in a similar situation and the referee stopped play.
“I told that to the ref after the game. He heard the shout that it was a head injury and they’ve gone and scored. We’ve had it done to us loads of times where our attack has been stopped, but for some reason, he didn’t want to stop it and they scored from it. We can’t control that.”
Charlton: Steer; Dijksteel, Pratley, Pearce , Solly; Cullen, Reeves (Ward, 75), Aribo, Fosu (Bielik 88); Grant, Taylor.
Subs (not used): Phillips, Sarr, Marshall, Lapslie, Ajose.
Goal: Taylor 25 (pen).
Booked: Fosu 51 ( kicking ball away).
Oxford: Eastwood; McMahon, Nelson, Dickie (Hanson 60), Ruffels; Henry, Branagan, Mousinho, Holmes (Carruthers 90); Mackie, Browne (Whyte 66).
Subs (not used): Mitchell, Smith, Raglan, Long
Goal: Whyte 70.
Booked: Nelson 33 (foul), Ruffels 45 (foul), Dicke 54 (foul), Mackie 76 (delaying free-kick).
Referee: Dean Whitestone
Attn: 9,984 (538 Oxford).