Kesman saves Mourinho's Blues' blushes

Oxford 1 Chelsea 1

Mateja Kezman made a scoring debut as Chelsea came from behind to spare Jose Mourinho from defeat in his first game in charge.

The big-spending Premiership title hopefuls dominated proceedings against Oxford in their first pre-season outing at the Kassam Stadium but still found the League Two side difficult to break down.

They were caught out when journeyman striker Tommy Mooney opened the scoring after 42 minutes – and it took a 67th-minute strike from recruit Kezman to earn a draw.

Chelsea controlled possession throughout the first half and carefully pieced together numerous attacks but despite spending most of their time chasing the ball, Oxford were rarely troubled early on.

It was not until the 18th minute that Chelsea managed to get a shot on target but even then Oxford goalkeeper Chris Tardif dealt comfortably with Kezman’s effort.

But Chelsea eventually started to threaten and Oxford were lucky to escape damage after a rash of chances midway through the half.

Kezman rattled the crossbar with a fierce shot after Eidur Gudjohnsen had flicked the ball into the area and the Serbia and Montenegro international fired over soon after.

Gudjohnsen headed narrowly wide after Geremi broke into the area and crossed and Kezman had another shot deflected into the arms of Tardif.

Tardif, a summer signing from Portsmouth, also had to be alert to beat away a sharp Joe Cole strike.

Graham Rix’s Oxford had created little against his former club but Carlo Cudicini could do little to stop Mooney as he burst into the area just before the break and fired home from close range.

Alexei Smertin, who spent last season on loan at Portsmouth, should have equalised early in the second half but dwelt too long on the ball after going round replacement goalkeeper Simon Cox.

Kezman hit the woodwork again after 54 minutes when a rising shot took a deflection and rebounded off the post and Smertin had a long-range effort pushed away by Cox.

Yet despite their superiority, Chelsea were almost caught out again just after the hour when Julian Alsop, a sixth-minute replacement for the injured Lee Bradbury, had a header cleared off the line by Celestine Babayaro.

Oxford made 11 further substitutions in the second half but Chelsea’s only change of the first 74 minutes was to bring on former Porto forward Felipe Oliveira at half-time.

Oliveira seemed to slot in well and it was he who teed up the equaliser for Kezman after 66 minutes.

The former PSV Eindhoven star made no mistake from 10 yards after finding space to Oliveira’s left.

Oxford were almost back ahead within two minutes but Cudicini tipped over from Michael Alexis.

The pace of the game dropped noticeably in the last 10 minutes as Oxford held on for a morale-boosting draw.