Heavy rain around noon left a very heavy pitch at Court Place Farm as Nomads looked to play their first home fixture for four weeks against a Reading Town side containing ex-Nomads players James Knight and Alex Rolland – but no Ray Spence.
The visitors started brightly and Ashley Watkins almost profited from a defender’s slip on the greasy surface as he collected the ball and sped into the area only to miscue his shot. Michael Bartley and Chris Hatton also tried long-distance attempts, but Alan Foster was watching carefully and collected with no slip-ups.
Nomads raised their tempo and George Seacole found himself in space on the left on eight minutes and finished his run with a strong, rising shot that Oneal Garnes palmed over. James Dobson’s flag-kick was ushered behind by Danny Lingwood, and, from this corner, Conor McDonagh drew a sharp save from Garnes by his post.
The home side now had a ten minute period of pressure with McDonagh drawing another save from Garnes; Ferreira being denied by a good tackle as he lined up a shot, and Kamran Abbasi powering a header just past the post from a Dobson corner-kick.
Reading were looking strong when they broke forward and Ben Gladwin’s astute pass gave Jamie Piercy a promising run into the Nomads’ box, but no one could provide a finishing touch to the final cross.
Nomads took the lead after 27 minutes as a half-clearance was picked up just outside the Reading box by McDonagh and his quick turn and right-foot shot seemed to take defenders and keeper by surprise as the ball was over the line before they could react: an instinctive finish for goal number thirty-seven of this highly productive season.
Reading almost replied immediately as the ball broke to Chris Hatton and his rising drive from twenty-five yards sped inches over Foster’s bar.
Two free-kicks carefully flighted by James Knight into the Nomads’ box caused a few moments of concern, but it was the home side who went the closest to scoring in the last ten minutes of the half as Albi Skendi fired in a powerful shot that deflected off target for a corner, and, with just moments left to the break, Reece Fleet found himself in acres of space in the Reading box, but chose to try to put Seacole in on goal rather than testing Garnes.

Half-Time: Oxford City Nomads 1-0 Reading Town

Fleet shot just high early on in the second period, and then did have the ball in the net on 50 minutes, but any celebrations were short-lived as the assistant ruled the ball to have gone out of play before Adam Morris delivered his cross: a close call.
Reading won their first corner on 53 minutes and Knight’s flag-kick flew to the unmarked Hatton beyond the far post, but control eluded him and a grateful Foster gathered. Moments later Michael Bartley escaped his marker on the left to hammer a low centre across the face of the goal.
Nomads were finding themselves on the back foot more regularly and more strong running by Bartley was at the centre of a promising move before a Gladwin free kick from the left flashed ominously close to the far post.
Having steadily increased the pressure, it was no great surprise when an equaliser arrived for Reading on 66 minutes as a deep cross from the left found Jamie Piercy rising more or less unaccompanied to plant a firm header beyond Foster’s reach.
The final twenty minutes brought a good, closely fought contest for a winner that saw some strong tackles and stubborn defending from both sides – though, perhaps unusually in this day and age, the game saw no cards produced by the quietly efficient Mr Mizzi.
Both sides had chances, but the better undoubtedly fell to Nomads, and Town must have been grateful for some first-rate goalkeeping from the impressive Garnes, particularly when he somehow parried a point-blank header from Jemaine Ferreira out of harm’s way, and later as he clung on in the mud to McDonagh’s forceful drive from fifteen yards.

Oxford City Nomads: Foster, Carbon, Dobson, Meade, Abbasi, Skendi, Ferreira, Morris (Moses 70), McDonagh, Fleet, Seacole (Thomas 62).