MATCH PREVIEW | EASTLEIGH VS OXFORD CITY
City look to continue their unbeaten run away at Eastleigh.
Eastleigh, who currently sit 18th in the table, come into this game on the back of a positive performance away at AFC Fylde after winning 1-2.
Oxford City will be looking for their first three points on the road but go into the match unbeaten in six games, despite the winless start they were troubled with.
FIXTURE DETAILS
Eastleigh vs Oxford City
Vanarama National League
The Silverlake Stadium, Oxford
Tuesday 19th September, 19:45
OVERVIEW
The Spitfires have picked up five points from a possible twelve at home, including their only victory this season, at the expense of Aldershot Town on Bank Holiday Monday.
Richard Hill's side will be hoping they can turn things around on Tuesday night when they welcome City to the Silverlake Stadium, after the recent departure of Lee Bradbury as Manager.
Eastleigh have picked up of late, going on to pick up seven points from a possible twelve since Bradbury's departure. Although, a 6-0 defeat at home to Gateshead perhaps indicates there's still work to be done. However, bouncing back at the first attempt away at Fylde was the perfect response to their thrashing.
The Hoops have achieved quite the turnaround since their winless run at the start of the year. Ross Jenkins' men are now unbeaten in five games and have beaten the likes of Hartlepool and Boreham Wood at home, scoring nine goals in those two games.
The Hoops are come into this game off the back of a stalemate with Dagenham & Redbridge. Jenkins felt that City didn’t test the keeper enough, and it’ll be something they’ll look at improving in Tuesday's fixture.
This is City's first away game since they travelled to then league leaders Solihull Moors, but once again, City secured an impressive point.
They came from behind twice to draw 3-3 away at Solihull Moors, thanks to second half strikes from both Josh Parker (47’) and Josh Ashby (81’).
PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS
Manager Ross Jenkins spoke to the www.oxfordcityfc.co.uk this week to preview Tuesday's fixture.
‘We're looking forward to it. There's going to be some tired bodies just like Eastleigh will.
'We put in a shift today [versus Dagenham on Saturday] so we've got to make sure we recover well and we have to go again.
'That's the league, everyone has to do it so we can't complain and hopefully we get more positives against Eastleigh.'
TEAM NEWS
Ross Jenkins has no new injury concerns ahead of the game after Saturday's 0-0 draw with Dagenham & Redbridge. Both Josh Parker and Andre Burley returned from international duty in the week and are available to play.
RECENT FORM
Oxford City - D W D W D
Ross Jenkins’ side currently sit in sixteenth and are yet to win away from home, which they’ll be looking to change on Tuesday.
As of now, City’s attacking power causes opposition defences a riot to deal with, having scored thirteen in their last five. An impressive feat!
Saturday's draw with Dagenham may not have seen the Hoops at their free-flowing best but the resilience they showed in the backline is almost unrecognisable to the opening day.
Eastleigh - L W D L W
As mentioned earlier, Eastleigh have only recorded one win at home during the season so far so the Spitfires will be hoping to switch around their shaky start, as they sit just above the drop zone.
Eastleigh have secured three clean sheets to their name, so adding a fourth to the tally could be the improvement they need to get themselves back on track.
Richard Hill has overseen the up-turn in form with a 6-0 home defeat to Gateshead the only blotch on his record so far.
ONE TO WATCH - Enzio Boldewijn
Signing from EFL side Sutton United in the summer transfer window, Enzio Boldewijn is our ‘One To Watch.’
Despite the lack of goals from Eastleigh (7), the Dutch fullback has already made a name for himself having netted three, coming into the game as their Top Goalscorer, so far.
A player who can play across both wings, he especially loves to cut inside onto his right foot and dart an effort at his opposition keeper when being put on the left, and has done that plenty of times throughout his career.
Enzio started his career in the Netherlands, via FC Utrecht, FC Den Bosch and Almere City FC. He made the switch to English football in 2016, aged 22.
This saw him move to League Two side Crawley Town, where he would feature over 100 times for the Sussex club.
2018 saw Boldewijn make the switch to Notts County and again to Sutton United in 2021, all on free transfers.
HAVE WE MET BEFORE?
The two sides have met two times previously, both in the FA Cup competition, and both ending in victories for City (1-3, 2-3) respectively.
The last time these sides faced each other was in October 2013.
THE MANAGER - Richard Hill
Richard Hill will be a familiar name around Oxford. The current Eastleigh interim boss played over 50 times for Oxford United in his playing career scoring 17 goals.
Since retiring from playing Hill has been assistant manager to John Gregory at Wycombe and QPR and Brian Little at Aston Villa. Furthermore, he's worked overseas with the Ethiopia national team and FC Kairat in Kazakhstan.
However, it was at Eastleigh where his coaching career really did take off. Under Hill's guidance he led Eastleigh to the National League South title in 2014 and the Spitfires have remained in the fifth tier ever since then. He also took Eastleigh to the National League play-offs in 2015 but eventually left at the end of the season.
Since his first spell at the club, he managed Whitehawk before returning to Aston Villa to join Steve Bruce's coaching staff in 2016. However, in February of the 16/17 season returned to Eastleigh in the Director of Football/Caretaker Manager role.
He moved to Sunderland as Head of Football Operations (alongside Eastleigh owner Stewart Donald). However, he's moved back to the South Coast to once again take the helm with the Spitfires as Director of Football.
PLAYED FOR BOTH
Luke Coulson signed for Eastleigh in January 2016 after having a spell at Oxford City.
Another familiar face is Swindon Town’s Udoka Godwin-Malife who featured 38 times for City from 2017-2019. After transferring to Forest Green Rovers, the centre-back had a very short spell at Eastleigh, featuring in five of their games.
HOW TO FOLLOW
FOLLOW THE ACTION:
Stay tuned to our official Twitter page for all the build-up, regular updates and post-match action.
AUDIO/RADIO COMMENTARY:
Can't make it to the match? BBC Radio Oxford will be providing full commentary of our opening match online and on the Radio!
Click HERE to head to the BBC's non-league commentary page where you'll be able to tune in at around 19:35.
INTERNATIONAL STREAMING:
As this is not a Saturday 3pm kick-off, this game will be streamed live by NLTV!
The National League are delighted to announce a range of National League TV Match Passes available for the 2023/24 season.
When signing up to NLTV remember to select Oxford City as your chosen team!
To find out more about an international streaming pass click HERE
For details on how to sign up and register and purchase a pass click HERE
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