OXFORD City boss Justin Merritt has revealed the reasons behind his side’s phenomenal success in front of goal when they hit the road.
City are the top scorers away from home in the top seven tiers of English football, netting 44 times from 17 away games in Vanarama Conference North.
Five times this season City have put five goals or more past their hosts, including two seven-goal hauls.
Merritt believes his side’s approach has taken their opponents by surprise.
-
Latest Sport news
“A lot of people look at the way we set ourselves up and see we’ve played with one striker all season,” he said.
“My message to the players is that one striker is not defensive in any way – it allows creative runs from midfielders and it’s harder for defenders to pick up.
“With a lot of defenders, particularly in this league, if you play two strikers against them the centre halves love that, but when you play one they don’t know what to do with themselves.”
The system has yielded 67 goals in total, making City joint-top scorers in the division with AFC Fylde.
But Merritt admitted it is most effective against unwary home sides.
“Teams generally feel when they’re at home they have to attack,” he said.
“With the pace we’ve got, if we can deal defensively with it, all of a sudden we’ve got four galloping forward and that’s where we’ve been getting a lot of chances.
“Even though that’s a great tactic, it doesn’t quite feel right to sit back like that in our home games.”
City’s last away trip finished with a 7-1 hammering of Gloucester City.
But the City boss has warned his side not to expect a repeat this weekend when they make their longest trip of the season to league leaders Barrow, who have conceded just 12 goals at home all season.
He said: “It’ll be a tough task, but we actually do well in situations when there’s a good crowd and we have to come together as a team.
“We’re really looking forward to it and obviously we’ll go there and try to win.”
HIGHEST AWAY SCORERS IN ENGLAND’S TOP SEVEN TIERS
Oxford City Played 17 Scored 44
Bournemouth 18 42
Bromley 16 38
Leatherhead 19 36
Basingstoke Town 16 35
Bristol City 18 35
Barnet 18 34
Solihull Moors 18 34
Rochdale 16 33
Boreham Wood 16 33
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here