IF Oxford City avoid relegation this season, the signing of Sam Nombe will have been a significant factor, writes PATRICK LOCK.

The Milton Keynes Dons loanee made it five goals in two and a bit games with a double in the 2-0 success at home to promotion-chasing Chelmsford City on Saturday.

A third successive win against play-off contenders has lifted Mark Jones’s side to 14th and ten points clear of the drop zone.

The visitors started the game well and could well have been ahead on six minutes as Anthony Church had a header from a corner cleared off the line by Eddie Jones.

City took the lead a minute later, when Nombe took the ball off Chelmsford defender Craig Braham-Barrett and drove forward before finishing confidently under Sam Beasant.

The Essex side forced a series of corners on 20 minutes, but the nearest they came to scoring was Phil Roberts’s header, which went over the bar.

City doubled their lead five minutes into the second period.

After Chelmsford’s former City captain Scott Davies lost possession in the middle of the park, Nombe traded passes with Reece Fleet before bearing down on goal and finishing into the bottom right hand corner.

It could have been 3-0 just four minutes later, but Beasant was quickly off his line to deny Fleet.

The hosts restricted their visitors to long-range efforts from Davies and Jonny Giles, which both cleared the crossbar.

Ezra Forde had City’s final shot, but his fierce effort hit the side-netting.

Oxford City: King, Jones, Godwin-Malife, Poku, Musunda, Oastler, Nombe (Forde 69), Fleet, Paterson (Fofana 85), McEachran (Oxlade-Chamberlain 67), Grant. Sub not used: Pearce.

Attendance: 451.