Oxford City 5 Bath City 1

 

MATCH REPORT: OXFORD CITY 5-1 BATH CITY

Harvey Bradbury’s brace capped off a five-star performance for Oxford City as the Hoops ran out 5-1 victors at home to Bath City on Bank Holiday Monday.

In front of a crowd of 731 goals from Bradbury (X2), Josh Ashby, Dan Matsuzaka and Lewis Coyle secured City’s first win of the season, coming from behind after Elliott Frear gave Bath the lead.

David Oldfield made three changes from Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Eastbourne Borough with Joe Iaciofano, Charlie Rowan & Elliot Benyon making way for Jacob Bancroft, Jack Davies & Harvey Bradbury.

The first real chance of the game fell to Oxford on the ten-minute mark. Alfie Potter’s mazy run opened up the angle to shoot but the resulting strike was sent inches over the top of the cross-bar.

However it was the visitors who broke the deadlock just before the half-hour mark when Elliott Frear was on hand to tuck home Tom Smith’s cross. Smith’s delivery was pin-point accurate and the wide-man’s finish was sent just out of Dudzinski’s reach.

Despite going 1-0 down the Hoops were certainly not out and only five minutes later the scores were levelled. Josh Ashby’s free-kick cannoned around the six-yard box before the ball fell kindly to Harvey Bradbury, giving the striker the simplest of finishes to tap the ball in from two-yards out.

Then came one of the goals of the game. Josh Ashby received the ball on the right-wing and the midfielder unleashed a shot (or cross) which evaded the whole Bath defence and, with a little help from the post, landed into the net.

Half-Time: Oxford City 2-1 Bath City

The second-half started in the same fashion as the first-half finished, with City on top and soon after the Hoops had a two-goal cushion.

Harvey Bradbury’s header across goal found the feet of centre-half Dan Matsuzaka who was there to tap the ball into the net from point-blank range.

Bradbury was certainly making an impact on his first start this season and he wasn’t to be denied a second goal. Ashby’s persistence to chasing a loose ball was rewarded and he clipped the ball over goalkeeper Clarke to find Bradbury. The striker connected with a diving header to make it 4-1.

With twenty-minutes to go things went from bad to worse for the Romans. Former City defender Eddie Jones was given his marching orders after his challenge on George Harmon gave referee Alex Blake no choice but to brandish a second yellow card.

At this point in the game it was all City and with two minutes to go, it was time for one of the substitutes to get in on the act.

Lewis Coyle picked up the ball from outside the box and weaved his way through the defence before smashing the ball past Clarke to put the cherry on top of the cake for the Hoops!

Full-time: Oxford City 5-1 Bath City

Attendance: 731