Oxford City 2 Brakes 2: Leamington fail to push on despite Newton twice putting them in front at Oxford

Paul Holleran made one change to his starting line up from Tuesday’s encounter at Guiseley, Ricky Johnson replacing Josh Hawker as he looked to take the game to City, who required the points to aid their climb out of the bottom three.

With a heavily sanded pitch due to the recent wet weather there was never likely to be much pretty football on show but Brakes carved out a couple of decent chances early on.

Joe Magunda had the best of them and was unfortunate to see Paul Stonehouse well placed on the line to block his thundering header from a right-wing corner.

Hawker was thrown back into the action after 20 minutes when Craig Owen was forced off with an injury, and Peter Till forced Mark Scott to push his rising drive behind after cutting in from the left between two defenders, Danny Newton heading wide from the corner.

The in-form front man found the net with his next effort, however, rising well to head inside the near post from Ryan Higgins long throw into the box.

Leamington barely had time to regroup before Oxford were level, Zac McEachran drilling a loose ball past Tony Breeden after the visitors had been unable to clear their lines.

Breeden was forced to save with his legs from Tom Winters before Newton fired his side back in front before half time.

The former Brackley man turned well inside the box and shot between two defenders with the ball finding the net through the goalkeeper’s legs for his seventh goal in as many matches since joining the club in January and underlining his growing importance to the team.

Leamington were on top going into the break but that was not to continue in the second half as City came back strongly.

Michael Pook skied a first- time effort over the stand and Darren Pond’s weaving run ended with a tame shot rolling wide of the target.

Brakes were beginning to look a little ragged at the back, culminating in a second equaliser for Oxford when Tom Winters drew Breeden off his line with a dangerous run in from the left, stabbing the ball into the centre where Kayden Jackson forced it home despite the efforts of Stephan Morley on the line to clear.

Matt Dodd was rather harshly booked for going in for a 50-50 challenge with keeper Scott, while Breeden made a fine save to prevent Mike Symons from putting Oxford in front.

Scott was then carried off on a stretcher after going down claiming a routine ball, with the injury possibly sustained as a result of the earlier clash with Dodd.

This left Oxford without a recognised goalkeeper so midfielder Declan Benjamin donned the gloves for the last ten minutes or so.

But other than watching a free-kick from Morley sail wide and holding another shot from the same player, he was untroubled as Brakes failed to take advantage.

Indeed it was Breeden who was called into action again, making a great block from Jackson to prevent a late Oxford winner.