MARK Jones hopes Oxford City have finally turned a corner as they look to stretch their unbeaten run to four games at Eastbourne Borough tomorrow.

Victory over Whitehawk last week in the Emirates FA Cup booked their place in the third qualifying round.

And City travel back to Sussex tomorrow as they bid to pull away from the bottom of Vanarama National League South.

City are now unbeaten in three matches in all competitions, and boss Jones believes his team have a renewed confidence.

He said: “We’re looking forward to the game.

“We are desperate to move up that table, and if we keep to our attacking style and stick to our philosophy, we will do OK.

“We did that well last week and showed those fighting qualities too, which was really pleasing.”

Jones’s squad is strengthened by the return of Mo Fofana, who has been out of action for almost a month with a hamstring injury.

The City boss said: “It’s a tremendous boost to have Mo back with us.

“He’s had a difficult month and the injury took a bit longer to recover from than we had hoped.”

Lee Henderson picked up a knock in the 3-3 draw against Weston-Super-Mare ten days ago, and Jones confirmed the defender will miss tomorrow’s trip.

“It’s a blow,” he said. “It was a dead leg, but it’s a bit deeper than we had feared and he’s struggling and needs another week.”

One thing City could benefit from is Eastbourne are another team who play on a 3G surface.

“That plays into our favour,” Jones said.

“A lot of teams that go there will not know about playing on those surfaces, but obviously we are used to that, so hopefully that advantage for them isn’t there.”

Jones added that he is still trawling the transfer market for some defensive cover, particularly in the light of Henderson’s absence and Freddie Grant’s suspension.

He said: “We’ve been trying very hard to bring in some defensive cover.

“Attacking wise, we are fine, but it’s clear that we are a bit short defensively with injury and suspension.

“But it’s not easy to find someone that is better than what we have, particularly at this time of the year.”

Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain returns after parent club Portsmouth did not grant City permission to play the youngster in the Cup.

Meanwhile, Horatio Hirst’s loan spell from Sheffield United has been cancelled.

The striker asked for more time on the pitch, something that Jones was unable to promise.

He said: “It’s disappointing.

“But at this level we obviously can’t make promises like that, and so we’ve decided to cancel the loan period.”

TOMORROW’S SQUAD

Oxford City (v Whitehawk, away): from Stevens, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Poku, Navarro, Fofana, Oastler, McEachran, Fleet, Paterson, Sinclair, Pearce, Forde, Jones, Tutton, Khawaja, Landers.