ROSS JENKINS | PRE-EBBSFLEET UNITED

Andrew Gate • April 4, 2023

Oxford City Manager Ross Jenkins was full of praise for Ebbsfleet United ahead of the Hoops’ Vanarama National League South fixture on Good Friday.

Friday’s hosts only need a point to mathematically be crowned as champions with five games to spare.


Furthermore, with a goal difference of +54, it would take a miracle for them to be dislodged at the top by Dartford (the only team with the smallest chance of catching the Fleet).


All in all, that means that City travel to the Kufflink Stadium on Friday to face the champions in all but name, and Jenkins has said that the Kent side are deserved leaders.


“They’re a good team and they’ve done enough to go up already.” He said.


“They've been very consistent throughout and consistency gets you to the top of the table, week in week out.


“They have some really good players and they’ve earned the right to be there.


“They play fantastic football and they’re a pleasure to watch at times but on the flip side, we play a good brand of football too and I think it’ll be an entertaining game. We’re looking forward to it.


“We have to put the effort in for our fans. Hopefully we’ll get a few coming down to support us and we want to impress them.”


The Easter schedule is a football fan’s dream, with games taking place throughout the whole weekend.


For City, that means that there’s no time to rest on their laurels whatever the result on Friday, with VNLS jumping straight into Easter Monday with another difficult test against Chelmsford City.


The logistics of such a quick turn-around are difficult for all clubs, but Jenkins has reiterated the importance of learning from previous mistakes.


“If we take our position for granted, we’ll get bitten and somebody else will take it. So we have to make sure we keep going and keep ticking off the games.


“We had the Christmas period earlier this season with back-to-back games, so we’ve played in congested periods before.


“I have to be honest, I wasn’t happy with our performances over Christmas, so the boys have to make a conscious effort to remember those performances and make sure we don’t fall into that trap again.


“We’ll address Chelmsford after Friday, but we take things every game at a time. We need to train well, get over Ebbsfleet and roll straight into another tricky game against Chelmsford.”

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