Goals in the first-half from Tom Scott and Zac McEachran secured Oxford City’s first away victory of the season in a dominant display away at Warrington Town in the Vanarama National League North.

The host’s simply couldn’t deal with City through the majority of the afternoon, and in reality, the scoreline doesn’t truly reflect the performance from Ross Jenkins’ side.

Ross Jenkins was forced to make a number of changes ahead of the game. There was a change in between the sticks as Kai McKenzie-Lyle returned to the starting line up after an injury to Rylee Mitchell.

Elsewhere, Josh Parker also dropped out of the squad due to injury and was replaced by Zac McEachran. Aaron Drewe was rewarded with his first start since re-joining the club as he replaced Andre Burley.

The Hoops got off to a blistering start and scored with their first chance of the match.

Aaron Drewe’s superb ball over the Warrington backline sent Tom Scott through on goal and the midfielder supplied a beautiful finish across goal to score his first goal for the club.

Moreover, they kept their finger on the pulse and Warrington simply couldn’t deal with the Hoops during the opening fifteen minutes and it was 2-0 just moments later.

Zac McEachran doubled City’s tally after Corie Andrews did well to hold the ball up inside the box and lay the ball off to the midfielder, it left McEachran with the simplest of finishes to fire past Dan Atherton to City’s delight.

Drewe almost made it three just before the half hour mark. City continued to threaten and neat interplay between Josh Ashby and Lewis Coyle down the left wing opened up the angle for Drewe. However, his shot from an extremely tight angle fizzed over the crossbar.

Drewe was in the thick of the action again with a trademark block on the line. Despite being the home team, Warrington were reduced to counter-attacking opportunities and Connor Woods’ shot almost pulled a goal back. However, Drewe recovered well to stop the ball from crossing the white line.

Just before the interval it was Warrington’s turn to block an effort off the line.

Ross Jenkins must have been wondering how City weren’t 3-0 up. Atherton’s poor clearance landed at the feet of Andrews and he wriggled through on goal. After evading a number of challenges, he tee’d up Coyle for a shot, but his left footed drive was hooked away by Murphy Bennett.

Half Time: Warrington Town 0-2 Oxford City

City continued to probe after the interval. A beautiful passing move cut through the Warrington defence before Reece Fleet fired over the crossbar.

As the clock ticked on, one question continued to arise. How was City’s lead just two?

Scott should’ve had his second on the game after he was tee’d up by McEachean after his jinking run, but the midfielder could only fire wide with the goal gaping. City continued to dominate.

City’s domination of the match forced the host’s into a triple change, and they started to search for a way back into the contest.

Connor Woods’ fierce drive looked like it was about to catch out McKenzie-Lyle at his near post, but the Guyana international made a super stop to deny the midfielder.

City continued to defend astutely as Warrington threw the kitchen sink at a more defensive minded City in the last fifteen minutes.

As the Yellows continued to venture forward, McKenzie-Lyle made another superb stop deep into stoppage time, tipping Amis’ header over the crossbar to keep a clean sheet intact.

Remarkably, that result secured the Hoops' first away win in 2024, and it was also Ross Jenkins' first win back in the dug-out. All in all, it was a brilliant afternoon in the North West.

See you all at Court Place Farm on Tuesday.

Att: 906

Oxford City: McKenzie-Lyle, Ezennolim (Kpekawa 75’), Ashby, Jones, Coyle (Roddy 85’), Fleet ©, Andrews (Walsh 90+5’), McEachran (Potter 70’), Scott, Carbon (Burley 77’), Drewe.

Subs Not Used: Walsh

Warrington Town: Atherton, White, Gums, Harris, Woods, McDonald, Rodwell-Grant, Bennett (Southern 60;), Dixon © (Amis 60’), Douglas, Miles (Clarke 60’)

Subs Not Used: O’Neill, Amaral,