Oxford City 1

Swindon Supermarine 2

Marine are yet to taste defeat on their travels in league action, winning six and drawing two of their eight games on the road, and Collier believes his team are doing something to be proud of. “It was a very good job,” said the manager. “Our form on the road is not to be scoffed at by any means. “We’re in the middle of November and we still haven’t lost away from home in the league - there’s very few teams who can say that. “I’ve got no idea why we’re so good when we go away. Perhaps there’s more togetherness when the lads travel on the coach to games together.

“But we must have one of the best records around in football, and we’ve been to some big clubs. “We’re not stupid enough to think we’ll carry it on forever, but it’s a great run to have and hopefully it will continue for as long as possible.” Marine were guilty of missing a series of decent chances as Alan Griffin, Mark Draycott and Steve Cook all failed to break the deadlock.

However, midfield maestro Chris Taylor finally put the visitors in front in the 57th minute with a superb individual effort. The playmaker jinked his way past four challenges before slotting past the helpless Oxford keeper Milan Barisic. With five minutes remaining the lead was doubled, Draycott getting in behind the home defence and seeing his driven cross turned past his own keeper by defender Steve Davis. Michael Lyon grabbed a last-minute consolation for Oxford, but Collier was delighted with his high-flying side.
 

He said: “It’s very pleasing because that’s four points from two away games after since we lost at home against Hemel Hempstead. “Oxford is a difficult place to go to and they’ve had some quite good results recently, so we knew it was going to be a tough task, but I was pleased for the players. “We just want to be staying in the top half of the table. If you lose in this league then there’s the potential to slip down a few places, so we need to make sure we keep at it and continue to pick up results. “Having said that, there’s a bit of a gap starting to open up between the top four and the rest, so it’s nice to be a part of that.”

From a City perspective...

Oxford City match photos