City beaten by Bromley.

Oxford City 1

Greenslade 75'

Bromley 3

Krauhaus 2'

Odutayo 5'

Whitely 64'

A mad five minutes consigned Oxford City to defeat after the Hoops were beaten 3-1 by Bromley in the Vanarama National League.

Ben Krauhaus gave Bromley the lead after two minutes, after he latched onto a long ball to slot past Tom Watson.

Then, three minutes later, Idris Odutayo found the net from a free kick from outside the area.

After the interval, Bromley made sure they booked a Play-Off Semi-Final spot when Corey Whitely tapped home after a quick counter-attack.

The goal of the game however, came from Oxford City. Harvey Greenslade took down Reece Fleet’s superb ball inside the area, and he remained composed to slot the ball past Grant Smith.

Selection

Ross Jenkins made three changes to the side that drew 0-0 with Oldham Athletic.

Reece Fleet, Lewis Coyle & Jacob Roddy dropped out in place of Ernaldo Krasniqi, Brooklyn Kabongolo and Latrell Humphrey-Ewers.

Josh Ashby took the captains armband on this occasion.

First Half

The game got off to a disastrous start. Bromley’s midfielder Ben Krauhaus latched onto Corey Whitely’s ball within the first two minutes, and kept his composure to run into the box and slot the ball past Tom Watson.

In the fifth minute, the visitors doubled their lead. A free-kick from just outside the area by Idris Odutayo out-foxed the six-man Hoops’ wall and found its way into the corner of the net.

From then on in, it was an up-hill battle from City. Bromley, who throughout the whole season had ground out results, were happy to soak up the City pressure and limited Ross Jenkins’ side to very little.

The best chance that City had in the first-half was through Josh Ashby’s cross, but the Ravens’ ‘keeper Grant Smith was well equipped to secure the ball before a City attacker could tap home.

Second Half

However, Oxford City came out from the break looking like a different team.

Ross Jenkins made two changes at the interval. Zac McEachran and Reece Fleet came to the fore, and their introduction changed the balance of play.

Despite that, Bromley had the first chance of the half and should’ve made it 3-0. However, Tom Watson was on hand to make a stunning save to deny Whitely when he bore down on goal.

The Bromley midfielder had the whole goal to aim for, but the outstretched leg of Tom Watson denied the midfielder.

Nevertheless, Whitely wasn’t to be denied for long, as it was to become 3-0 just after the hour mark.

A swift counter-attack from the visitors ended with Michael Cheek finding the midfielder in space on the right wing, and Watson could do nothing to stop him from finding the net this time as he had the simplest of finishes.

Despite that, City didn’t throw in the towel against the promotion hopefuls.

Somehow City couldn’t pull a goal back in the 70^th minute after Bromley blocked three chances back-to-back from finding the net from inside the box.

Fifteen minutes from time though, the fans were treated to the best goal of the match.

Harvey Greenslade plucked fleet’s super ball into the box out of the air, and the Bristol Rovers’ loanee produced the finish to match the touch, swivelling inside the box to fire past Smith.

A superb goal.

That gave the Hoops renewed vigour going into the last stages of the contest, but despite their best efforts, Bromley proved to be too strong to breakdown.

Greenslade again tried his luck from range, but unlike before, his finishing deserted him on the second occasion.

City’s final home fixture of the season proved to be a tough night. Next up, the final day trip to Altrincham on Saturday.

Attendance: 441

Line-Ups

Oxford City Starting XI

Oxford City: Watson, Burley, Phillips, Ashby ©, Greenslade, Potter (Moore 83’), Williams-Bushell, Humphrey-Ewers, Kabongolo (McEachran 46’), O’Connell, Krasniqi (Fleet 46’)

Subs not used

Coyle, Birtwistle

Bromley Starting XI

Bromley: Smith, Reynolds ©, Charles, Cheek (Davies 67’), Kirk, Grant, Whitely (Dennis 76’), Arthurs (Vennings 67’), Krauhaus, Odutayo, Weston

Subs not used

Thomas, Tappoloj