Blackburn Rovers and Oxford United shared the points in a tight bottom-half battle at Ewood Park.

Oxford struck first when Ciaron Brown smashed home a half-volley in first-half stoppage time after a scrambled free-kick.

Rovers improved after the break and levelled through Todd Cantwell's composed penalty following a handball by Jack Currie.

Both teams had chances in the final 15 minutes but a lack of quality in the final third ensured the match ended all square.

With all the criticism of the Ewood Park pitch that followed Saturday's abandonment against Sheffield Wednesday, at least Rovers had an extra 30 or so minutes more recovery time in the build up to Tuesday night's affair.

That potential energy advantage however could not help their struggles in front of goal however as they had to rely on a penalty to save their blushes despite creating an expected goals of 2.34 from their 16 attempts.

It was Oxford who had looked the brighter side early on with Greg Leigh heading wide in the eighth minute unmarked in the box.

Mark Harris then went close for the visitors as he tried to pick out the bottom left corner from the edge of the area but guided it just past the post.

Making up for their previous efforts, Brown's opener came from a recycled free-kick that caused chaos in the box before the defender lashed into the top corner for his first goal of the season.

Valerien Ismael's Blackburn have scored just 19 league goals this season - the joint-second fewest in the Championship - but they responded well in trying to find an equaliser.

Yuki Ohashi powered in a header at close range into Jamie Cumming's gloves and then the Japan international's deflected whipped cross sailed just wide 15 minutes from time.

But Rovers incessant pressure paid off soon after as a handball from Currie gave referee Leigh Doughty no choice but to point to the spot with Cantwell calmly slotting home to deny Gary Rowett's side victory and extend the U's winless midweek run to nine games.

Blackburn head coach Valerien Ismael told BBC Radio Lancashire: "When you play at home, you want to win after 90 minutes. If you stay 0-0 in the second half, we knew the game would open up and be better for us.

"When our players come back from injury, we look completely different - more control, composure and creativity.

"Todd [Cantwell] is clearly the technical leader and gives confidence to everyone. Moussa [Baradji] came in strong, and Dion [De Neve] with his energy.

"We're doing the right things.

"On the other hand, some players are starting to get tired - we've had a lot of games.

"We're looking forward to Saturday because afterwards we'll finally have a week to recover before the Millwall game."

Oxford United defender Ciaron Brown told BBC Radio Oxford: "I felt the momentum of the game shifted in the second half, but overall we were comfortable and seeing the game out.

"Again, it's just one single moment that took the three points off us, and that's probably been the difference.

"It's not overall - it's small moments, small margins, and we need to get better at them."