OXFORD City fell to a 2-1 defeat away at Maidstone United, leaving them fourth in Vanarama National League South, WRITES GEORGE RICKWOOD.

The hosts took a 2-0 lead through Joan Luque and Joe Ellul, before Joe Iaciofano’s goal halved the deficit.

A red card apiece defined the second half, with Maidstone holding out for the three points.

Maidstone took the lead after 14 minutes, Luque with a fine effort – cutting inside and bending a beautiful strike into the top right corner.

That knocked the wind out of City’s sails and they fell further behind just 10 minutes later, when Regan Booty’s corner was nodded in by Ellul.

City were lucky not to concede again after Ben Dudzinski made a series of saves to deny the hosts a third, first in a one-on-one with Christie Pattison and then turning Michael Phillips’ header over the bar.

City went up the other end and pulled one back, Iaciofano preying on miscommunication.

Booty’s second yellow card for a challenge on Zico Asare lifted the Hoops’ hopes of getting something from the game.

City controlled the match but failed to carve out clear cut chances, before substitute Harvey Bradbury evened the teams after reacting to an alleged stamp and lashing out at Sam Corne.

A WINDY weekend saw the postponement of multiple fixtures in Oxfordshire, including games for Banbury United, Wantage Town and North Leigh as Storm Eunice continued to wreak havoc, WRITES FRASER DAY.

With North Leigh’s game cancelled, Thame United seized the opportunity to get within four points of the play-off positions after a 2-0 win away to Didcot Town.

Ryan Blake put the visitors ahead on the half-hour mark, calmly slotting past the goalkeeper.

Just eight minutes later, David Pearce latched onto a loose ball and fired home to double the visitors’ lead.

The away side managed to hold on for three points despite playing the final half an hour with 10 men after Matt Peake-Pijnen was shown a red card for a high challenge.

After last week’s half-time postponement, Kidlington returned to action scoring four first-half goals to seal an emphatic 4-1 win against Hertford Town.