Enterprise National League North
Tuesday 18th August 2026
Oxford City 1-1 Harborough Town
(Bateman 85′ ) (Assombalonga 61′)
Report – James Lee
Photo – Rob O’Brien
Bees settle for a point as Oxford City score late at The MGROUP Stadium. There was little to separate the two sides in a real battle of a game that saw Bees substitute Britt Assombalonga’s second-half headed goal cancelled out late by Oxford’s Briar Bateman.
It was the first evening match of the season for the Bees, which added an extra buzz for both sets of supporters hoping to maintain their unbeaten starts to the campaign. The Bees dominated their opponents for large parts of a very intense game.
George Carline only had to wait till the eighth minute to get his first chance to launch the ball into the box with a long throw from the right that was eventually cleared by the Oxford City defence after a bit of pinball in the box.
The Hoops had their first chance of the game in the 19th minute up the left wing with summer signing Ellis Brown, who had his shot blocked by Alex Morris.
Carline launched another long throw in the 38 th minute, this time from the left, and it was nodded on by Rory McAuley towards O’Sullivan, but his header went just over the bar. The Bees kept the pressure on the Oxford backline in the final moments of the half, with an Eliot Putman free-kick beautifully whipped in, which had to be put to safety by a defender.
It didn’t take the Bees long to continue their relentless pressure on the Oxford backline. Within the first minute of the second half, Morris headed it on to Callum Powell, who wasn’t able to keep his shot down.
Oxford City had their best chance of the game when left winger Brown curled a shot, forcing
a good save by Elliot Taylor and the rebound fell to Tyrone Marsh, who somehow put it wide
of the goal.
The Bees broke the deadlock in the 61st minute with Assombalonga, who got in behind the defence after they couldn’t deal with a cross, and he calmly headed the ball over the goalkeeper, sending the travelling Bees fans behind the goal crazy. Harborough kept pushing, looking for a second three minutes later, when goalscorer Assombalonga headed a ball across the face of goal, which experienced shot-stopper Jonny Maxted punched clear to set The Hoops on a counterattack with Brown, who ran up the left wing and put the ball across the face of the goal, but no one could get on the end of it.
Oxford City had a chance to equalise in the 70th minute from a free kick that was launched towards the back post, finding Ludwig Francillette, who stooped low to head it towards the bottom left corner, but Taylor had it covered and held onto the ball.
The end-to-end game continued to deliver. With fifteen minutes remaining, Assombalonga took the ball down on his chest brilliantly and combined well with Devon Kelly-Evans, with the former having his deflected shot go just over the bar.
Oxford’s Maxted released Brown on another counterattack, with the left winger winning the race against Putman and Carline, but his cross was too high for any teammates to put it in. However, Oxford managed to find an equaliser in the 86th minute after Brown made another run down the left wing, and this time he pulled it back, putting Taylor out of the game for substitute Bateman to tap it into the open net.
In the final minute of added time, Assombalonga was brought down, earning the defender a yellow; the resulting free kick was hit towards Morris, whose header was cleared, and the referee shortly blew his whistle, signalling the end of the game
On the result, Mitch Austin expressed his glee post-match, saying, “We can’t be disappointed with that; I’m delighted… I’m really happy.”
The Bees’ next game will see them return to the Beehive as they welcome Darlington on Saturday, August 22, in the National League North.