Oxford City general manager Justin Merritt believes his side will need to show real spirit against Gloucester City at Cheltenham Town’s Whaddon Road on Sunday (3pm), writes Matthew Bruce.

Those battling qualities were on display in abundance as City fought back to claim a 1-1 draw at Chorley in Vanarama Conference North on Tuesday evening.

And Merritt feels it will stand his side in good stead this weekend.

“If we had played Chorley three or four months ago, we wouldn’t have got a draw,” he said.

“They’re the sort of side that would have brushed us aside.”

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Merritt added: “Gloucester are in good form and they’re trying to get away from the relegation zone.

“They’re going to be a similar sort of side, because they’re strong and physical and they’re very hard-working, but we know we can deal with that.”

Top scorer Adi Yussuf suffered a rare off-night in front of goal at Chorley, but City have found a new, unusual source of goals as defender Lee Henderson netted for the second time in two matches.

Both his efforts have come from corner routines, something City have worked on in training.

“We actually changed Lee’s position when attacking corners, so credit should go to (assistant manager) Danny Nichols for that,” said Merritt.

“Adi’s been our hero this season, but he had a few chances which he should have scored."

“That’s football unfortunately; you’re not going to score every time.”

Following Tuesday’s draw and their defeat to Tamworth on Saturday, City have picked up just one point from the last available six.

But with a run of three matches against sides occupying spaces in the lower half of the table, Merritt is confident that will change.

He said: “I know our return from the last two games hasn’t been good enough in terms of points, but our performances have been very good.

“If we keep doing that we’ll get the rub of the green.”

Marlon Jackson (hamstring), who missed Tuesday’s trip to Chorley, and Luke Coulson (knee) are both injury doubts.

SUNDAY’S SQUAD

Oxford City (v Gloucester City, away): Salva, Coulson, Benjamin, Stonehouse, Lapoujade, Santiago, Henderson, Fofana, Wilson, Pond, Yussuf, Obot, Scott, Barcelos, Winters, Rodriguez, Del Alamo, Jackson.