Visitors Call the Shots in OX3

Oxford City 1

Coyle 27'

Aldershot Town 2

Tolaj 11'

Stokes 38'

Oxford City were unable to end their winless streak as play-off chasing Aldershot Town won 2-1 at the RAW Charging Stadium.

The Hoops were somewhat undone by two of the form players  in the Vanarama National League this campaign, as Laurent Tolaj and Josh Stokes were both on target.

However, the Shots would not have it all their own way, with a fine Lewis Coyle goal sandwiched between the two, but ultimately was not enough to see City avoid defeat.

Selection

Following their 4-0 defeat at Gateshead last weekend, there were two changes to the City line-up to face Aldershot.

The one enforced change saw the suspended Andre Burley drop out of the line-up, with Harry Birtwistle coming in as wing-back, with Jacob Roddy taking up position in a back three.

Renny Smith returned to the starting XI as he was preferred to Harvey Greenslade, who took up his position on the bench.

First-Half

The Shots immediately put pressure on the Hoops from the off, and forced Tom Watson into his first save after eight minutes when Tolaj took advantage of a loose ball, but the City keeper spread his body well to block the resulting shot.

They would only have to wait a couple of minutes before they went one better when James Daly beat the offside trap to burst into the box, and his ball across the face of goal found Tolaj to open the scoring.

The visitors pushed forwards for a second, and Coby Rowe tried his luck from his own half with Watson off his line, but the effort was caught easily by the City keeper. Watson was then once again in action when Tolaj jinked past a couple of challenges, but was once again met by a good save.

As the half wore on, the Hoops got into the game, and started to get the ball heading towards Aldershot’s goal.

A leveller arrived after 27 minutes when a ball into the box came out to Reece Fleet, and the ball was delivered acrobatically back in where Coyle was waiting to hammer past Jordi Van Stappershoef to level the scores.

But despite gaining more of a foothold, the lead lasted little more than ten minutes when Tolaj became provider, slipping Stokes with a pin-point through ball to slot under Watson.

Second-Half

The second-half took on more of an even contest, but neither side were really able to force clear cut chances in the early stages of the half.

City had a chance to win it with 10 minutes to go when Latrell Humphrey-Ewers’ cross was bundled wide by Jacob Roddy.

But the Shots had their own chances in the final quarter-hour to put it beyond doubt, with Stokes firing a shot just over the bar, before Tyler Frost’s effort through bodies struck the bottom of the post before being cleared.

The hosts had one final chance in the final of the four added minutes when Giles Phillips was played through on goal, but he opted to take his shot on outside the box, which Van Steppershoef gathered down low.

Match Details

Attendance: 1,109 (593 Aldershot Town)

Oxford City Starting XI: 

Watson; Kabongolo, Phillips, Roddy; Birtwistle, Fleet, Ashby, Coyle (Greenslade 77’); Smith (Humphrey-Ewers 46’), Potter (Lumeka 67’); Parker.

Subs not used: Brzozowski, Williams-Bushell

Aldershot Town XI: 

Van Stappershoef; Mnoga, Rowe, Harfield; Frost, Tetek, O’Keefe (Thomas 68’), Glover; Stokes; Tolaj (Barrett 87’), Daly (Ghandour 76’).  

Subs not used: Akpan, Turner