MARK Janes has hit back at claims by Oxford City boss Mike Ford that he joined Abingdon Town because it was the “easy option”.

Janes, 22, said his work as a self-employed painter and decorator meant he was unable to give his full commitment to training twice a week and playing for the Zamaretto Southern League Premier Division side.

“I called Mike to say that I had a lot of work coming in,” said Janes, who made his Abingdon debut on Monday against Old Woostock Town in the Uhlsport Hellenic League Premier Division.

“That would have meant getting up at 5am and not getting home until 6pm, and working five days a week and Saturday morning, and would be too shattered to give my full commitment.

“He told me to think about it, but I rang him the next day to tell him that I was signing for Abingdon.

“I love City, but I was getting to training and to games exhausted and wasn’t enjoying it.”

Janes, who rejected a move to Didcot Town earlier in the season, added: “It was a hard decision to leave. I don’t think it was an easy option, so it was a bit of a shock when I read it.”

Ford said: “He knows how hard I tried to get him to stay. For 18 months he was a regular in my team and it’s only recently that he has been left out of the team.”

Meanwhile, Ford, who welcomes back Jack Ashton, has set City a target of 30 points from their next 21 games to ensure they stay up, starting tomorrow at Evesham.

He added: “We have lost only once in the last six games, but we have to start winning games and scoring more goals.”

Didcot Town boss Stuart Peace wants a repeat of their show against Windsor & Eton at home to Chippenham.

Peace’s side ended their winless run of nine games with a 3-1 win on Monday.

“It’s no good winning a game and not backing it up,” said Peace.

“I was a bit concerned before the game because we hadn’t played for over a month and Windsor had played on the Thursday.

“But our fitness levels right up to the end were first class.”

Peace added: “Chippenham are decent, but if we play as we did against Windsor we can beat them.”

Michael Alexis, Jordan Tabor and James Organ return from suspension.

Banbury United face a trip to Swindon Supermarine.

TOMORROW’S SQUADS Oxford C (v Evesham, away): from Jesionkowski, Blossom, Ballard, Clarke, McIllwain, Ashton, Savage, Malone, Kington, Morris, Lyon, Mekki, Anderson, Steele, Pritchard.

Didcot Tn (v Chippenham Tn, home): from Smith, Warrell, Heapy, A Williams, Stanley, Gunn, Organ, Dutton-Black, Lawrence, Huggins, Alexis, Osborne-Ricketts, M Williams, Bartley, Griffin, Tabor.