THE new reign of Miron Muslic at Plymouth Argyle begun with a 1-1 draw in the club’s latest Sky Bet Championship clash with Oxford United at Home Park.

Having trailed to a spectacular effort from Will Vaulks just before the break, the Pilgrims levelled things up just past the hour mark when Rami Al Hajj headed in a cross from debutant Tymoteusz Puchacz.

Argyle were indebted to goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw for twice keeping out efforts from Oxford substitute Siriki Dembele late on, but a draw was probably a fair result for Muslic’s first game in charge.

The home side dominated for large parts of the opening half and were unlucky to trail at the break. The second half, however, it was Oxford who looked the more threatening and Muslic acknowledge post-game his side will need to carry a greater attacking threat if they are to maintain their Championship status.

“It’s a point and we take this point,” said the 42-year-old, who has taken over the head coach role from Wayne Rooney. “We have the next opportunity on Saturday against QPR and then we will try it again. Defensively, I think the last three games we have only conceded one goal. That’s okay, but we need to increase our offensive threat and I’m very confident we can do this.”

Another bumper crowd gave Muslic a warm welcome, both before and after the game, and the new boss was quick to praise the support he received from the sidelines.

“The reception, that’s something you cannot imagine, maybe in some beautiful dreams, but when you go outside and you feel that, I was very much impressed,” he added.

“I was hoping for this somehow, but you never know. So now I know what it feels like to play a home game, and what Home Park and the Green Army can deliver. Nothing but respect for that, thank you very much.

“This will give us the boost we need and also the confidence we need. It’s like a 12th man almost for the future to face the challenge we have in front of us.

“The challenge will remain the same. It’s about where we will be after the last game of the season and there I’m very confident. Today I saw a team trying, especially in the first half, the first 25-30 minutes.

“Don’t forget we only had one training session to prepare, to adapt, to organise ourselves. Tonight you saw a goal like we are going to score a lot of in the next few weeks and months, high up on the pitch, a lot of players in and around the box and then occupy them, keep the attacking waves alive and then you can score.”