Marine held to a draw against strugglers Oxford City

Despite creating the better chances Bobby Grant's side couldn't find a breakthrough as they settled for a draw against Oxford.

It was the home side who dominated the first half as they looked to continue their fine run of good form. 

A first Marine chance saw Finlay Sinclair Smith find Jolley in the box superbly, the debutant couldn’t quite push the ball over the line with a flicked effort straight into the keeper’s hands. 

The number 17 came close again after a nicely worked counterattack from the Mariners. 

Bailey Marsden was able to thread the ball through to the striker who saw his effort palmed away before Newell’s rebound was wide of the target. 

Sinclair Smith was very much involved and was unlucky not to score on several occasions as all of his shots were saved by Jamie Pardington. 

After the restart, Jacob Roddy forced Fraser Barnsley into a first save early in the second half as the Marine goalkeeper parried it to his left. 

With Marine struggling to regain a foothold in the game, they began to string a few chances together in the final third. 

The best of these fell to Sinclair Smith who couldn’t direct his header on target after James Brown whipped it in. 

Substitute Lewis Bell later forced a fine save from Pardington who parried the powerful strike behind his goal. 

Marine continued to enjoy large spells of the ball throughout the remainder of the half but they couldn’t manage to find the back of the net and were held to a draw against Oxford. 

This report was written for the Non League Paper