Oxford City 1-2 Southport

Oxford City were beaten in the battle of the basement this afternoon as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat to Southport at the MGroup Stadium.

Goals from Adrien Thibaut and Jordan Slew either side of half time gave the Sandgrounders all three points despite Josh Parker’s late goal giving the home side hope.

The first half saw two out of form teams seemingly determined not to give anything away, with chances far and few between.

Southport were neat on the ball and dangerous from set pieces with the constant threat of captain Tom Moore’s long throw and free kicks from Sonny Hilton to test the back three of George Burroughs, Darnell Johnson and Charlie Wiggett but neither side looked like carving the other open in a tense opening half. Jack Bearne, back in the side as a right wing-back, tested keeper Chris Renshaw’s handling in the third minute and Josh Ashby flashed a free kick into the side netting half way through but otherwise Southport dealt with the physicality of the returning Isaac Westendorf well and then caught City with a sucker punch.

A set piece or a mistake was always going to bring the breakthrough and in the final minute of the half it was Darnell Johsnson who made the error, slipping and allowing Thibaut to advance unchallenged to bury the ball beyond the exposed Sam Lewis to make it 1-0 at the break. It got worse pretty quickly. Four minutes after the break Slew slayed as City dithered and the striker slammed home to make it 2-0 and give City a mountain to climb. Having already made two changes at half time and switched to a back four, City simply needed to gamble.

DJ Campton-Sturridge came on and made an impact for the last half hour as City finally woke up. A foul on Campton Sturridge allowed Josh Ashby to fire a free kick against the bar and moments later the skipper saw another effort saved by Renshaw. Parker went close, and then with ten minutes left there was light at the end of the tunnel as Campton Sturidge did well and a deflected cross left the unmarked Parker with a tap in to maker it 2-1 and set up a grandstand finish. Southport dropped deeper, City increased the intensity but there was to be no further breakthrough and City were beaten. Plenty of effort but time for hard work to translate into points…