FIXTURE DETAILS

 Oldham Athletic vs Oxford City

Vanarama National League

Boundary Park, Oldham

Saturday 23rd September, 15:00

OVERVIEW

PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS

Manager Ross Jenkins spoke to the www.oxfordcityfc.co.uk this week to preview Saturday's fixture and has said he is expecting a strong reaction from Saturday's hosts.

“It always happens [when there’s a managerial change] you always get a reaction.” Jenkins said.

“Their [Oldham] task is to continue it, our task is to stop it and try to be as dogged and as hard to beat as possible going there.

“We appreciate it’s a difficult place to go to with their fans and the atmosphere and they will feel like they have a twelfth player at times. But they’re things we’re getting used to and learning about and adapting to.

“But we’ve got enough quality on the pitch to affect them as well. So, as much as we have to pay attention to them and their key players, we’ve got to have the belief in our players too and I back the players that we’ve got.

TEAM NEWS

After a 2-2 draw with Eastleigh on Tuesday evening, Ross Jenkins will once again face a selection headache ahead of the game.

Latrell Humphrey-Ewers and Lewis Coyle were both selected from the start of Tuesday's fixture and after some impressive performances hold a claim for selection once again.

Josh Ashby & Nya Kirby both missed Tuesday night's match and will face late fitness tests ahead of Saturday.

RECENT FORM

Oxford City - W D W D D

It looked as though Oxford City's unbeaten run in the National League was about to end on Tuesday night at Eastleigh, but late goals from Lewis Coyle and Latrell Humphrey-Ewers remarkably earned the Hoops an impressive point on the road.

The first three games of the season led to fans and pundits writing off City. However, if you can read anything into the last seven games, the Hoops have shown they have what it takes to mix it with the 'big boys' in the division.

Saturday's fixture will be a completely different challenge, though. City will have to perform to their maximum to stretch their run to eight games at Boundary Park.

Oldham Athletic - L D D L W

As mentioned earlier, it's not been the start to the season that Oldham would've wanted. However, if Tuesday evening is anything to go by, the team look like a different side to the one that started the season.

A 2-0 win over York City was exactly what the doctor ordered and was a lot more reminiscent of what we all expected from the Latics, after goals from Joe Nuttall and Alex Reid secured three points.

Both of the Latics' wins have come at Boundary Park (against Aldershot & York), but if they can get the better of City on Saturday, they'll secure their first back-to-back wins of the season.

Anybody that follows non-league football would only need to take one look at Oldham's squad and realise that this squad should be pushing for the play-offs at the very least, and despite their early form lacking - promotion is definitely still achievable.

ONE TO WATCH - James Norwood

A striker that has been prolific at this level before and would feel perfectly at home in the EFL is James Norwood.

His track record speaks for itself, and the striker has three goals to his name for Oldham already this season, coming into this game as the Latics' joint top-goalscorer (alongside Brennan Dickenson).

Norwood was Oldham's marquee summer signing from League One side Barnsley in the summer. Earlier in his career he went on to become Forest Green Rover's all-time top goalscorer in the National League in his time at the New Lawn, form that secured him a move to Tranmere Rovers.

He went on to become a cult-hero at Prenton Park, scoring the winning goal at Wembley in the National League Play-Off Final against Boreham Wood.

His career continued in an upward trajectory as he went on to join Ipswich Town and then Barnsley (whilst both clubs were in League One).

City will have to be at their best to deny him on Saturday.

HAVE WE MET BEFORE?

It comes as no surprise that this will be the first ever meeting between the two sides.

As we alluded to before, the two clubs have been on two completely different journeys. Twenty years ago, Oldham were famously in the Premiership under Joe Royle in 1992-93, they also had remarkable success domestically reaching two FA Cup Semi-Finals (but were beaten both times by Manchester United).

However, after dropping out of the Football League all together, the Latics have been taken over by local business man and supporter Frank Rothwell. Rothwell has breathed new life into the club after a number of years of decline and now looks to turn the tables with a promotion.

City on the other hand were recovering from their eviction from the Whitehouse Ground in the same season and looking to find their feet again or face extinction.

However, due to the work of hard-working volunteers and some blood, sweat and tears, the club was saved and the rest they say is history! This is the highest level of football City have ever played at. 

THE MANAGER - Steve Thompson

The man in the dugout on Saturday will be interim boss Steve Thompson who has taken the reigns after the departure of David Unsworth.

This is Thompson's fourth spell in interim charge of a club, the other three spells coming at Blackpool.

As a player, Thompson started at Bolton Wanderers, before moving onto Luton Town, Leicester City, Burnley and Rotherham. The 58-year-old has plenty of experience in the game in numerous roles but was recently names as Oldham's Head of Recruitment.

PLAYED FOR BOTH

Mike Fondop is a name that needs no introduction to Oxford City fans. The striker is currently contracted to the Latics but made a very big impression in OX3.

He was only at City for a season but is still endeared by Hoops fans, he was top scorer at Court Place farm during his spell in the 2016/17 season.

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 14:50.

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