Oxford United 2-2 Swansea City - hosts win 5-3 on penalties

It had been over 10 years since Joe Allen last played for Swansea City

Swansea City's miserable start to the season continued with a first-round EFL Cup exit at the hands of League One Oxford United.

The visitors threw away a two-goal advantage which came from Jay Fulton and Liam Cullen's first-half efforts.

Alex Gorrin netted for the hosts, before Cameron Brannagan's injury-time equaliser took the game to penalties.

Matty Sorinola saw his effort saved before Brannagan converted the winning spot-kick to secure a 5-3 victory.

Swansea had been looking to bounce back after a disappointing display last weekend, which saw them lose 3-0 at home to Blackburn in the Championship.

They were bolstered by the presence of Joe Allen on the bench after the Wales international rejoined his boyhood club from Stoke in the summer.

Russell Martin made seven changes to his Swansea line-up, opting for youth and inexperience, while his opposite number Karl Robinson made eight changes from the side that won 1-0 against Cambridge.

Swansea got off to a perfect start after Oxford goalkeeper Edward McGinty gifted them a free-kick for handling the ball outside the box, which Fulton drilled into the corner after a dummy run.

Cullen, one of eight Swansea players aged 23 or under, proved a willing runner and got his reward on 25 minutes after latching onto a kind ricochet and producing a neat finish inside the box.

It proved a welcome return to the scoresheet for the youngster, who only scored one goal in his loan spell at Lincoln last season.

Oxford's Edward McGinty had an eventful night in goal

Swansea were unable to find any fluency after the break as sloppiness began to creep in.

Gorrin, who appeared to be chasing a lost cause, took full advantage when Azeem Abdulai's back pass prompted Swansea keeper Steven Benda into a poor clearance, which deflected off Gorrin into the back of the net.

Benda redeemed himself in the dying minutes, making a fine save to deny Tyler Goodrham, but he could do nothing about the injury-time equaliser as Brannagan's free-kick cruelly deflected off the wall.

With no extra time, the game went straight to penalties.

Marcus Browne, Gorrin, Marcus McGuane, Slavi Spasov and Brannagan were all on target from the spot for Oxford, while Cullen, Olivier Ntcham and Allen - who arrived on the hour - netted for Swansea before Sorinola saw his effort saved.

Swansea head coach Russell Martin told BBC Sport Wales:

"How it descended into that, I don't know. What they've done is left us open to criticism on mentality.

"What I would point out is the changes, we had such a young team on the pitch at the end, but even then the experienced lads need to help them get through it, and we just didn't.

"I'm really angry, I'm really frustrated and disappointed because for 65 minutes the fans were enjoying it, we pressed the life out of them, we should have been out of sight."