Oxford City kept their play-off ambitions on track with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Weymouth on Saturday.
Michael Lyon and Felipe Barcelos were welcomed back into the line-up after serving suspensions, bolstering Mike Ford’s depleted squad. Barcelos linked up with Pablo Haysham to lead the City attack and it was this combination that almost gave City a dream start on 12 minutes.
The visitors' defence was caught square when Barcelos collected the ball on the City left before threading the ball to Haysham who raced into the box only to be denied by the alert intervention of 'keeper Nick Jordan, who saved at his feet.
Declan Benjamin and Liam Malone bossed the midfield for City with Benjamin’s runs from deep putting the visitors defence under constant pressure. On the half-hour Haysham’s pass found Benjamin on the edge of the box and his fierce low short brought an excellent save from Jordan.
Five minutes before the break James Clarke’s inch-perfect free kick was collected by Chris Wilmott who struck the ball first time only to see his effort cannon of the far post with Jordan well beaten. Weymouth had their best spell after the break and 'keeper Jason Mooney was called upon to to deny Sam Poole from close range and Marvin Martin was well placed to clear a second effort from off the line.
The introduction of Mark Bell on 60 minutes had an immediate impact on the game. Bell, playing only his second game after missing almost 18 months through injury, collected the ball deep in the City left before beating two defenders to win a corner.
Bell took the corner himself and his dipping flag kick evaded Jordan’s leap and was met by the head off Chris Wilmott, who’s thumping header beat the defenders on the line.
It was now all City as the home side kept the visitors' goal under constant pressure. James Clarke took the opportunity to break from his defensive duties to surge into the box before firing a low shot past Jordan and inches past the far post.
Minutes later it was Barcelos who saw his shot pass just the wrong side of the upright. Then Barcelos beat the static Weymouth defence again before picking out Mark Bell, who found the unmarked Andy Ballard on the edge of the box.
Ballard’s sweetly struck low shot screamed into the net past the unsighted Jordan, securing three valuable points for the home side.
