General manager Justin Merritt said Oxford City can’t play the kind of fast-paced passing football they would like at Marsh Lane, writes Matthew Bruce.

Overnight rain left the pitch sodden and sticky during Saturday’s scrappy 2-1 win over Lowestoft Town in the Vanarama Conference.

But City won’t have to battle with the pitch at Marsh Lane again this month as they face a trio of away games in quick succession, including clashes with promotion-chasing Barrow and Tamworth and at struggling Gloucester City.

And Merritt feels that could be to their benefit as they look to build momentum going into the latter stages of the season.

He said: “We’ve got some real tough games coming up against teams that are around us.

But a lot of those games, particularly Tamworth and Barrow, are away on a lot better pitches than we’re playing on at home.”

“If you look at our goalscoring record away we’re No 1 in the league, yet at home it’s very difficult.

“I don’t think it’s difficult to see why.

“We try and play football and we try and move it, but it’s a very tough surface to do that on.”