GARY Rowett called for more creativity from his Oxford United side after being held to a goalless draw at managerless Derby County.
The Sky Bet Championship encounter was light on opportunities at either end, with both teams struggling to create chances in front of goal.
Both goalkeepers made mainly comfortable saves, although Jacob Widell Zetterstrom produced a good fingertip save to deny a 25-yard strike from Siriki Dembele after 25 minutes.
United head coach Rowett said: “I’m not unhappy with a point, but I think we’ve set the bar a little bit higher than that in terms of performances.
“I think we’ve set the bar higher than that in terms of what we expect from the team and it’s probably one of those games where I think the pitch was difficult and they’re fighting for their lives with a new manager I’m sure about to come in, so it was never going to be an easy game.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I’d expect a little bit more quality at times, and that was a struggle for us. I thought in the first 20 minutes, we started the game quite well, and in the last 20 minutes, I thought we looked the more threatening team and the more likely to take the points.
“In the middle part of the game, I think Derby had a little bit more than us, so it was pretty even overall.”
Rowett added: “They’re a physical team and I think in the first half, we got dragged into that bit of combat and those tussles.
“You could see it where the likes of Shemmy [Przemyslaw Placheta] were getting a little bit frustrated with some moments.
“The problem that happens then when you start getting frustrated, you start not concentrating on your own game and how you can free up some space.
“Some of those little moments we probably have to learn from and some of those moments we need to be better.
ADVERTISEMENT
“It’s another away performance where we’ve took some points out of the game, which we know is very difficult to do in the Championship, but I think we’re at a point where just not losing the game is not enough. Drawing a game is not enough.
“We want a little bit more than that and certainly we need to be a little more creative.”
The U’s host Portsmouth on Saturday afternoon, and Rowett said: “I’m interested in winning games of football and whoever we play at home, whether it’s Pompey or Coventry after that, or whoever it might be, I want to win games of football.
“I’m aware of the league table, but I don’t want to start looking down and thinking about those gaps. I want to start looking up and wanting more out of these types of performances.”
