November 15, 2025
This weekend, two sides at the wrong end of National League North table could take their minds off their struggles in the league, as Oxford City and Peterborough Sports met in the FA Trophy.
These diaries reported on Oxford City last Saturday, when a 2-0 home victory over Worksop Town took The Hoops up to 22nd in the table, leapfrogging Sports, who fell to 23rd place.
Oxford City would be hoping to go on a similar run to last year in the FA Trophy, when they reached the quarter-finals, equalling their best ever performance in the competition. Wins were registered over Sporting Khalsa ( H 5-0 ), Hadley ( H 2-1 ), Biggleswade Town ( A 3-0 ), Forest Green Rovers ( H 1-0 ), who were top of the National League at the time, before being eliminated by National League Woking. The game was a 2-2 draw, with Woking equalising in added on time, after which a comically bizarre penalty shoot-out ensued, with at one point seven consecutive attempts missed. Unfortunately for Oxford City, they missed four of them, and lost the shoot-out 1-2.
Last year Peterborough Sports got past National League South Chelmsford City ( H 2-0 ) but then went out 1-2 at National League North Southport.
Peterborough Sports FC
Peterborough Sports were founded in 1908 as Brotherhoods Engineering Works, the works team of the company of the same name, who designed and manufactured steam turbine engines, from which the club still has the nickname The Turbines.
The name Peterborough Sports was adopted in 2001 when the club were still playing in the Peterborough and District League. Promotion to the United Counties League was achieved following the 2012/13 season, and they became Champions of Division One in 2015/16 to go up to the UCL Premier Division.
Another promotion followed in the next season as Sports won the Premier Division to move up to the step 4 Northern Premier League Division One South. After one season Sports were levelled transferred to the Southern League Division One Central and immediately won the title to rise to the step 3 Southern League Premier Division.
Sports finished runners-up in 2021/22 and won the play-off by beating Alvechurch and Coalville Town to be promoted to step 2 and the National League North.
In their three seasons at step 2, Sports had finished 14th, 15th, and 12th.
Home is the 2,300 capacity Lincoln Road and the home colours are orange shirts with black shorts and socks
Peterborough Sports Squad
Probably the most well-known member of the Sports squad was ex-Western United and Adelaide United Australian left-back Josh Cavallo, who came out in 2021 to become one of the few openly gay professional footballers. I’ve no idea how he ended up in Peterborough !
There were three Internationals in the Sports squad. Gambian winger Mustapha Carayol ( 7 caps ) had a long career with Crawley Town, Lincoln City, Bristol Rovers, Leeds United, Middlesborough, Brighton and Hove Albion, Ipswich Town, Gillingham and Burton Albion to name just a few !
Ex-Barnsley striker Josiah Dyer had 5 caps for Montserrat, whilst ex-Swansea City and Kidderminster winger Maliq Cadogan had 3 caps for Guyana.
Midfielder Luca Miller was previously with Kettering, midfielder Sam Straughan-Brown was on loan from Doncaster Rovers, midfielder Elliot Whitehouse was on loan from Macclesfield, and ex-Fleetwood Town striker Theo Williams was on loan from King’s Lynn.
Journeyman striker Shaq Coulthirst appeared in these diaries for Braintree Town at Oxford City in January 2022 and numbers Leyton Orient, Torquay United, Peterborough United, Mansfield Town, Barnet and Ebbsfleet United to name but a few amongst his former clubs.
Forward Ben Beresford signed from Alfreton Town, having earlier played for Gloucester City, Banbury United and Kidderminster, and midfielder Dan Jarvis had a loan spell at Bedford Town as a youngster. Left-back/winger Connor Wood had played over 100 times for Bradford City, as well as playing for Leyton Orient, Colchester and Tranmere Rovers.
Defender Marcel Oakley stared at Birmingham City with loans to Arbroath and Queens Park before joining Solihull Moors, and keeper Peter Crook was previously with Harrogate Town and Boston United.
Peterborough Sports This Season
Peterborough Sports came into today’s game second from bottom in the NLN with a 4-2-10 record, and were 2-0-6 away from home.
The Turbines lost four of first five league games, with just one point coming from a 0-0 home draw with Leamington. The first victory came with a 1-0 win at Marine, but the next two games were lost before Kidderminster Harriers were then beaten 2-1 and Alfreton held 1-1, both at home.
Their last 6 games had followed a pattern of two defeats, two wins, then two defeats. The wins came at Southport ( 2-1 ) and Chorley ( 2-1 at home ). Last time out, Sports were beaten 0-1 at Spennymoor Town.
Only two sides had scored fewer than Sports’ 16 goals, and only two had conceded more than the 30 goals they had let in.
Peterborough Sports progressed through one round of the FA Cup, eliminating step 2 Hornchurch from NLS 2-1, but were then embarrassed with a 1-4 exit at step 3 Harborough Town.
The consequence of the Cup exit was the sacking of joint managers Luke Steele and Colin Gash, and the appointment of Phil Brown, who ironically recorded his first victory against Kidderminster, who had sacked him in the summer after failing to winning promotion by finishing second on the last day of last season, and then losing in the promotion play-offs.
Brown famously took Hull City into the Premier League, and were joint top after 9 games following victories at Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. However, reality soon set in and Hull were in a relegation battle, but finally finished 17th. However, relegation and sacking followed in the following season. Brown subsequently managed Preston North End, Southend ( twice ), Swindon, had a spell in India, then Barrow, before pitching up at Kidderminster.
The average attendance so far this season was 343, the lowest in the division, with the highest being 423 for the visit of Kidderminster.
Miller was the top scorer with 3 goals, followed by Dyer, Jarvis and Beresford on 2.
Previous Meetings
Peterborough Sports did the double over Oxford City last season, winning 2-1 at home and 3-1 at Court Place Farm.
If Hoops fans were looking for an omen, their side had won the only meeting in the FA Trophy, winning 2-0 in February 2021.
Matchday Information
According to AA Route Planner, the journey from Peterborough to Oxford is 88 miles down the A45 and M40 and should normally take around 2 hours. It looked like around 25 Turbines fans had made the journey.
Tickets for today’s game were at a reduced price of £10 for adults online and £14 at the turnstile. For Over 65s it was £6 online and £10 on the gate. An online programme was available and a cup of tea cost £2.50.
It was a grey winters day at the 15.00 kick-off but with a damp feeling in the air, and there was a chance of some light rain during the game. The temperature was around 10 degrees.
Bet365 made Oxford City 6/5 favourites, with Peterborough Sports at 13/8 and the draw 13/5.
Sports were playing in their usual kit of orange shirts, with black shorts and socks. Oxford City were in their traditional blue and white hoops.
Peterborough Sports made eight changes from the side that lost as Spennymoor as manager Brown decided to give his fringe players a chance. Irish/Nigerian centre-back Kevin Joshua was making his debut after signing in midweek as a free agent having previously played for Peterhead, Macclesfield and York City and keeper Sam Edwards, who had 10 caps for the England Deaf team was also making his first start after signing in the summer.
Only Aaron Powell, Straughan-Brown and Whitehouse kept their places, although Crook, Oakley, Carayol, Miller and Beresford were on the substitutes’ bench. There was no place in the squad for Cavallo
Oxford City made four changes to the side that beat Worksop last Saturday. Keeper Sam Lewis was injured during the mid-week Town vs Gown fixture so Max Treml came for his debut, whilst Josh Parker, Darnell Johnson and Ewan Clark returned to the side.
Matchday Report
Peterborough Sports made a fast start with a long throw being headed off for a corner, which then may have struck a post before being partially cleared. When the ball was crossed back into the area by Straughan-Brown, Joshua’s mis-kicked volley from 10 yards looped up for Treml to take an easy catch.
Oxford City’s response was swift. Firstly, a ball in from the left wing was headed on by Parker for Edwards to make a comfortable save, then Ashby ran onto a long ball as Sports looked for an offside flag, but a poor first touch took him wide but as the keeper approached, Ashby blasted the ball across the goalmouth but the unmarked Parker at the back post could only react and head over the bar. Any half decent cross would have given Parker a simple chance into the empty net, so it was a golden opportunity squandered.
Sports then won two corners but the home defence stood firm, after which Tom Scott showed a good touch to control a pass from Jacob Roddy and ran past two static defenders, but his low cross into the area was put out for a corner by Joshua. Ashby’s delivery struck Chris Francis at the back post and rolled through to the keeper.
With 13 minutes played Alfie Potter beat Powell on the left but as he shaped to shoot after running into the Sports area, Powell recovered to make an excellent sliding tackle.
Clark then sent an optimistic 25 yarder harmlessly over the bar after which ex-Brackley and Darlington right winger Kaine Felix showed good speed but his cross was poor.
Wood then played a nice ball down the left-hand channel for Max Booth to latch onto but his low ball towards the 6-yard line was cut-out by Charlie Wiggett. Sports reworked possession and when a cross came in from the right, Treml’s punch was weak, but City were spared by the referee’s whistle. It wasn’t clear what the offence was as it didn’t look like a foul on the keeper, so maybe there was an offside. It was to be the first in a series of puzzling decisions from the man in black ( who actually was in black today ! ).
Oxford City should have opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Parker dummied a through ball which left Potter with a 1 vs 1 with the keeper, but Potter’s shot was too close to the keeper, who dived to his right to push the ball away.
Sports were quickly down the other end but Francis made an excellent tackle to dispossess Coulthirst but not longer afterwards, Sports had taken the lead. Wood picked up a loose ball and with no home defender closing his down, the wing-back took a couple of steps forward and shot left-footed from 25 yards and the ball found the top corner. Keeper Treml though would have been disappointed by his effort to make the save, with his attempted push not being strong enough. It was 0-1 after 23 minute.
Two minutes later keeper Edwards tried to grab a long ball but as he slid the ball slipped through his hands. Scott managed to keep the ball in play and passed to Roddy, who crossed towards the far post where Potter’s pass was to no-one and Sports cleared the danger.
Treml’s nervy start continued as he fumbled a low ball in from the right but recovered to gather, but he did much better in the 32nd minute when Coulthirst shot left-footed from the edge of the area and Treml saved at his near post.
Parker thumped a 20-yard effort a couple of feet over the Sports crossbar then Phil Brown was irate with the officials when they failed to award a couple of free-kicks in favour of the Peterborough side. Ashby was then bundled over by a Sports played and fell on the ball, and when he picked the ball up expecting the obvious free-kick to be given, the decision was handball !
Two Sports players were left rolling around on the (astro)turf and the referee showed a yellow card to Clark for a wild challenge on Straughan-Brown. Chants of “You’re ******* useless” rang around the ground at the referee, and probably from both benches as well.
Powell then went down as if badly hurt after an innocuous challenge from Potter and the referee awarded a very soft free-kick. Brown’s comments to the official could be heard very clearly from the other side of the pitch to the dug-outs, and “calm and measured” were not the words that sprang to mind.
City then fashioned a nice looking move which was butchered by a terrible pass by Johnson, kicking the ball off for a goal-kick rather than to Roddy in space on the right
Italian Benjamin Mensah played a ball over The Hoops backline which Coulthirst ran on to but his left-footed shot was blocked, and an offside flag was belatedly raised.
Coulthirst’s elbow then struck Roddy in the face but no free-kick was awarded. Instead, play was eventually stopped, and after treatment play resumed with a drop ball to the home side.
Ashby drilled a 20-yard effort a couple of feet wide after a good chest trap by Parker, and the final action of the half saw Powell winning a free-kick decision from the referee after slipping as Potter closed him down. At the interval, Peterborough Sports led 1-0 having taking their chance and City missing theirs.
The second half started in a similar fashion to the end of the first half, with Whitehouse throwing himself to the ground and appealing for a foul as Parker came to challenge him but this time the referee wasn’t conned and allowed play to continue. Remarkably, Whitehouse got to his feet very quickly !
The first chance of the second period fell to Sports, as Booth picked up a loose ball and ran into the Oxford City area, but he blasted over from a reasonably tight angle. Clark then won a corner for The Hoops on the left, but Wiggett’s header was cleared off the line by Mensah standing at his back post.
Wiggett was called into action at the other end, producing an important slide to prevent a pass putting Booth clear. The subsequent throw-in was played short, and after a cross from Powell was partially cleared, Whitehouse sent a shot out of the stadium.
With 53 minutes on the clock, Felix went on another rapid run down the right-wing but again there was no end product, this time sending the ball high over the heads of his attackers.
The home side missed another great chance two minutes later. Cadogan’s air-kick midway inside the Oxford City half enabled Ashby to take possession and play a splendid ball to put Parker clear. However, the touch from the veteran Antiguan took him a little wide and with an angle tighter than it could have been, the blasted shot struck the body of the keeper as he spread himself
Scott was then fouled as he played a forward pass close to the half-way and Parker grappled with Joshua before eventually breaking free to bare down on goal. The referee decided to bring back play for the foul on Scott as the Oxford City players screamed that an advantage should be played, but the referee took the view that Parker had fouled Joshua. The referee probably got that one right.
In the 58th minute Coulthirst wriggled his way into the Oxford City area, but his effort was blocked by Francis, and the ball rolled through for Treml to pick up.
A minute later Lattrell Humphrey-Ewers shot from distance after being teed up by Parker, by Edwards made the catch above his head.
The officials then gave a throw, then a corner to Sports, which led to an embarrassing petulant display of amateur theatrics from City’s Clark in protest at two very good decisions. Clearly, the youngster needs to grow up.
City defender Johnson was the next player to be shown a yellow card, after a bad foul on Coulthirst. The free-kick was 25 yards out on the left but Whitehouse sent the kick straight into the arms of Treml.
Humphrey-Ewers again tried his luck from distance and this time Edwards failed to hold on. Roddy was the quickest to react but could only blast again the prone body of Edwards from close range. It was another good chance missed by the home side but also a brave save by the keeper.
Whitehouse was the next to see yellow, after a late tackle on Ashby, who got up to take the free-kick to the edge of the Sports area, where a City head made contact to direct towards the far post but Isaac Westendorf’s header lacked power and Edwards made a routine catch above his head.
Two City players stopped and appealed for a handball against Oakley and Straughan-Brown took advantage to play on and send a curling effort narrowly wide of the far post. Just because the ball strikes an arm doesn’t automatically mean it is handball. Again, I thought the referee got this one right, and City were guilty of not abiding to the old adage of “play to the whistle”.
With 15 minutes remaining, Scott sent a left-footed shot just over the bar after a chip into the Sports area had been headed out. Two minutes later Westendorf was wrestled to the floor by Wood but surprisingly the referee didn’t see it as a penalty.
Sports were now showing their expertise in game management, slowing the game down at every opportunity, and ignoring the referee’s efforts to make them play without any sanction.
Straughan-Brown was the next to be shown a yellow card after a high foot made contact with the head of Ashby, although it didn’t look malicious. When the ball was played forward, a great defensive block denied Scott, and the ball flew over the bar for a corner.
The set-piece was glanced on at the near post by Parker, and Westendorf was on hand to bundle the ball over the line for the equaliser. 1-1 after 85 minutes.
With their tails up and roared on by the home crowd, Westendorf made a surging run down the left and into the Sports area and looked up to pass to Scott. As the City midfielder lined up a shot, his legs were taken away from under him by Carayol. The referee took a long, hard look and after some time awarded the penalty. City had the chance to turn the tie around with two goals in two minutes.
Oxford City have had a terrible record from the spot in recent years, but Ashby, who was the one player to score in the shoot-out fiasco against Woking, stepped up to take responsibility. Unfortunately for the home side, he sent the ball wide of the keeper’s left-hand post to add to the catalogue of missed chances.
Almost immediately after, Sports raided down the left and Carayol delivered an in-perfect left-footed cross where substitute Beresford was unmarked and powered home a header from 6 yards giving the keeper no chance. 1-2 with 88 minutes played.
Four added minutes were to be played and it was The Turbines who nearly added a third goal, but Cadogan’s effort across goal heading for the far corner was pushed away by the diving Treml.
City forced a corner, but Edwards, with a crowd of players around him, was able to punch away. The final whistle blew shortly after and Peterborough Sports progressed to the next round. They had taken two of their chances, whereas Oxford City had wasted several good chances, and on that basis had only themselves to blame.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCBtzw9nb4U
Oxford City : Treml – Johnson ( Wilson ), Wiggett, Francis - Roddy, Ashby, Humphrey-Ewers ( Westendorf ), Scott, Potter, Clark – Parker, Potter
Peterborough Sports : Edwards – Powell, Joshua ( Oakley ), Wood – Felix, Straughan-Brown, Whitehouse, Cadogan, Mensah ( Carayol ) – Coulthirst ( Miller ), Booth ( Beresford )
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