Hawks soar to second after putting Oxford City to the sword

Goals from Alfie Rutherford, Roarie Deacon and Wes Fogden did the damage as Paul Doswell’s men moved up to second in the table.

Hawks started with a more attacking formation than Eastbourne with Alfie Rutherford coming in up front for defender Benny Read.

It took Hawks only three minutes to go ahead when Rutherford won a corner and the ball was played back to Wes Fogden whose cross was headed goalwards by Roarie Deacon, and the keeper could only parry his header to Rutherford who tapped the ball home.

It was end to end after that and Oxford won a corner which was headed straight at Ross Warner before Read replaced Andy Drury after 15 minutes.

A long ball after 24 minutes found Jonah Alunga who controlled well but hit the side netting from an acute angle.

Shortly after, Rutherford had a shot form 20 yards collected by the keeper at the second attempt.

Good interplay between Alunga and Rutherford after 30 minutes saw the ball fall to Deacon who stroked the ball into the top corner of the net from 22 yards.

After that, Oxford had a couple of shots by Evie Brown and Joe Oastler which were wide of the target, with Warner not really troubled in the whole of the first half.

The half ended with another corner with Rutherford’s shot saved by the keeper as the Hawks finished well on top.

Five minutes into the second half the Hawks were passing the ball around the Oxford penalty area and a fierce shot by Anthony Straker fell to Fogden who fired home from 10 yards.

Soon after, a corner fell to Sam Magri whose header was blocked on the line and cleared.

Hawks were fortunate after 53 minutes when Warner got down just in time to deflect a shot for a corner which was Oxford’s first effort on target.

Warner was then required to get down to his right to make another save as Hawks seemed to relax and allow Oxford more possession.

After 75 minutes it was Hawks who threatened again when Read’s cross was met by Ilunga whose shot was well saved by Steven Caro in the Oxford goal.

After 88 minutes Warner had to be alert again to tip over a header, but they were rarely troubled and finished with an impressive three points.

Glenn Thorpe