City held at home to extend unbeaten run.

Oxford City 0

Dagenham & Redbridge 0

Oxford City extended their unbeaten run to six games with a 0-0 draw at home to Dagenham & Redbridge.

Chris Haigh will take the plaudits after the Goalkeeper produced a collection of fantastic saves to prevent the away side from taking all three points.

In a tightly contested affair, neither team was able to find their clinical edge to claim victory, and City earned a point to see them rise to 15th.

SELECTION

Ross Jenkins was able to re-call Josh Parker, who returned from international duty earlier this week. He replaced Alfie Potter in the squad. Andre Burley returned to the bench.

Aaron Williams-Bushell replaced Lewis Coyle in City's only other change. Coyle was suspended for the match after accumulating five yellow cards.

First-Half

City had the game’s first big chance when Olly Sanderson latched on to a ball over the top and rounded the keeper, but was unable to get his shot off, before Josh Parker’s follow-up was blocked.

But Dagenham were proving to be a threat on the break, and nearly took the lead from a corner, with only a Josh Ashby goal-line clearance preventing Aiden Francis-Clarke’s header from giving the away side the opener.

On the whole, the game struggled to get going early on, with a string of fouls by both sides disrupting the rhythm of the attacks.

Dagenham got on the ball more and more as the half progressed though, with Omar Mussa and Ryan Hill both blazing shots over the bar.

The best and final chance of the half fell to Daggers midfielder Josh Rees, whose shot from 10 yards out was parried brilliantly by Chris Haigh.

Second-half

Oxford began the second half in a similar vein to the first, with an early chance falling to Nya Kirby on the edge of the box after a cutback from Williams-Bushell down the right, but he saw his whipped effort blocked by the legs of Francis-Clarke.

They came close again when Canice Carroll nodded Josh Ashby’s free kick back across the box, but Olly Sanderson’s header from close range was straight into the gloves of Elliot Justham.

Dagenham’s threat on the counter was evident though, and a fantastic turn from Charley Kendall in the middle of the park freed space to lay through Ryan Hill, who, one-on-one with Haigh, saw his effort turned onto the left post brilliantly by the Hoops keeper.

The game was opening up now, and Ashby tried his luck from the edge of the area, forcing a good save from Justham to tip it over.

With just seconds of the 90 to go, Dagenham thought they’d won the game when the ball was cut back to Charley Kendall, who’s effort seemed to be flying in, only to be denied by one of the saves of the season by Haigh, who somehow managed to claw the ball away from the top corner.

Ultimately though, neither side were able to find the breakthrough, and the game ended level.

The result meant City picked up a third clean sheet of the season, while also overtaking Maidenhead in the league table. Dagenham & Redbridge remain one point and two places above, in 13th.

Match Details

Attendance: 876 (97 Dagenham)

Oxford City Starting XI: 

Haigh, Miccio, Ashby (Fonkeu 83’), Kirby, Harrison, Fleet, Sanderson (McEachran 65’), Parker, Williams-Bushell, Carroll, Moore

Subs not used: Humphrey-Ewers, Burley

Dagenham & Redbridge  Starting XI: 

Justham, Tavares, Hessenthaler, Vincent, Rees (Ibie 74’), Hill (Appiah-Forson 87’), Francis-Clarke, Page, Kendall, Ling, Mussa (Lawless 61’)

Subs not used: Hare