Watson seals late point for U's

The U's had been trailing the Coca-Cola League One encounter on Saturday from ten minutes when Seasiders' John Murphy headed home on just ten minutes.

United boss Phil Parkinson had made five changes from the team that had lost 2-1 at Walsall the previous week and had adopted a change in formation for the first time this season.

Out was the 4-4-2 and in was 4-5-1, with Kem Izzet making his first start of the season after spending two months out with an ankle injury.

Dean Gerken was again in goal as Aidan Davison was still recovering from an Achilles problem.

The talented young goalkeeper was unable to deny Murphy early on, but he was in good form to stop Scott Taylor and punch clear and threatening crosses and corners later on.

Joe Keith and Izzet were looking lively, but the pair only had a couple of chances to really test the Blackpool defence and each time they were stopped.

The U's only really revitalised themselves in the second half with the addition of Craig Fagan from the substitutes bench in replace of Bobby Bowry.

This saw the visitors go back to a 4-4-2 formation and they soon created more opportunities for themselves.

The equaliser soon came, but it was in controversial circumstances.

The U's had broke on a counter attack after Blackpool midfielder Richie Wellens had lost the ball.

Wellens went down appealing for treatment for a head injury which would have usually resulted in the referee stopping play.

However, the referee allowed play to continue and Keith surged into the box before a quick pass to substitute Gareth Williams, who in turn teed-up Watson to fire home.

This angered the home team and in stoppage time an off the ball incident escalated into a melee with players and some U's substitutes running off the bench and out of the technical area to become involved.