MICHAEL Appleton thinks Oxford United’s draw at Milton Keynes Dons showed his players they can compete on the big stages in Sky Bet League One.

In contrast to last season’s record-breaking form, his side have found life tricky away from the Kassam Stadium.

But with trips to the likes of Bolton Wanderers and Coventry City to come in the next month, Appleton welcomed a hard-fought point at Stadium MK.

The head coach said: “We’ve had three defeats away from home, which nobody wanted especially with how comfortable we were on the road last year.

“First and foremost keeping a clean sheet gives you an opportunity and we’ve done it at one of the bigger clubs in the division.

“That should give us great belief when we go to the big stages this season that we can compete.”

The U’s boss had few complaints about the result, which was in doubt until the final seconds as Simon Eastwood saved from Kieran Agard and George C Williams headed wide.

He said: “There weren’t many chances and I think we had more of the clear-cut ones to be honest.

“I think 0-0 is probably a fair result.”

The one concern was the sight of Wes Thomas hobbling off after picking up a calf injury early on, a day after fellow striker Kane Hemmings suffered a similar problem.

One of his other substitutions saw skipper John Lundstram replaced by Ryan Ledson, which Appleton explained afterwards.

He said: “You’re always looking for personal performances to be at a standard that you’d expect and want.

“Ryan gives us that little bit more defensively and allowed us to push Joe Rothwell higher up the pitch.

“I felt it was the best thing for the team at the time. As it turned out it looked that way.”