Ross Jenkins lamented his Oxford City team’s relegation from the Vanarama National League following a season marked by contentious refereeing decisions.
The Hoops, who were elevated to the National League the previous season, were performing at the best level in the team’s history when they suffered a 2-1 loss at AFC Fylde, which guaranteed their relegation to the sixth division of English football.
After 30 minutes, Josh Parker gave City the lead. After an hour, Joe Westley tied the score for the hosts, and with 12 minutes remaining, Nick Haughton scored an incredible free kick.
Jenkins, the head coach of the Hoops, stated on the team’s YouTube channel: “We have to proceed correctly. The league is incredibly powerful, and teams have excellent organisational systems and big finances.
“To get back here, we need to keep going and try to make changes both on and off the pitch.
For some of the lads as well, it’s been a fantastic learning opportunity. At this level, several of the youngsters had never played before.
Haughton scored on a controversial free kick that was awarded after Brooklyn Kabongolo was called for a foul even though there didn’t seem to be any contact.
Jenkins stated: “I think a bad refereeing call has overshadowed it.” With this pitch, the game was always going to be scrappy.
“It’s very annoying, but Jacob Roddy was the only one hurt from it. We executed the fundamentals pretty well, in my opinion, and we were excellent.
“Scoring the first goal felt good, no issues at all, but the season has been largely decided by the decisions made.” We are really deflated by that second decision. There truly isn’t any contact, so there’s never a foul or free kick.
He deserves our respect since he put it in the upper corner, but these are the times when we need to seize the opportunity, and so far this season, they haven’t.
“The boys have persevered through obstacles and sacrificed for the team and club, and a draw would have been a just outcome.”
“It was a very thin game with very little content. There was not much excellent football being played because the ball was in the air a lot and the pitch wasn’t very nice.
“Relegation isn’t even on our minds right now; it’s frustration at decisions going against us week in and week out,” he continued. We can no longer ignore it; we need to deal with it.
“The boys have performed flawlessly. There was no shame in our performance, given that the lads work part-time and that Fylde are full-timers who most likely have a big budget.
“We’ve come here and fought, and we’ve created opportunities and chances, and none of the players have embarrassed themselves because they’ve been playing this way all season long.”
