MARK Jones believes Zac McEachran has already shown he can handle the step-up in level as Oxford City head to Dartford looking for a third victory in a week.

The midfielder has been influential in wins against Whitehawk and Hungerford Town, opening the scoring in the latter to boost a City side who lost their first two games in Vanarama National League South.

McEachran has played for the club in the sixth tier before, but rejoined this summer after two seasons in the Southern League with Banbury United.

If there were any doubts about whether the former Chelsea youngster could handle the division, Jones reckons they have now vanished after a strong start.

He said: “Zac McEachran has been absolutely superb.

“I think most people would have put him as man of the match again (against Hungerford).

“He can go past people and always seems to pick the right pass.

“We’ve been absolutely delighted with him because he has come up from the league below and it’s always a slight gamble.

“You think ‘can he cope with the National League level?’ but he’s shown everyone with his performances over the last few games that he can no problem at all.

“I’m very pleased with him.”

McEachran and his teammates will need to be on their game again this weekend.

Dartford have yet to taste defeat this season and the Kent side have not conceded in their opening two games at Princes Park.

The visitors have no new injury worries, although the game may come too soon for striker Justin Bennett, who has resumed training after a knee injury.

With the fixture being played in the afternoon, City will not have a repeat of their biggest problem in midweek.

An error by someone attempting to switch off the floodlights on the adjacent pitch at Court Place Farm led to the first-team game being plunged into gloom just before the break.

The contest continued until the interval, during which the mistake was rectified.

Jones, who saw the funny side, said: “I did hear at half-time someone switched them off.

“You just can’t get the staff these days, can you?”

“I thought ‘what’s going on here?’ but they managed to get them on again.”

TOMORROW’S TEAM

Oxford City (v Dartford, away): from Hill, Poku, Henderson, Oastler, Grant, McEachran, Fleet, Jones, Pearce, Paterson, Hirst, Navarro, Fofana, Forde, Ngathe, Demuria, Bennett.