General manager Justin Merritt admitted his Oxford City side were beaten by the better team following their 2-1 defeat at Vanarama Conference North table-toppers AFC Fylde, writes Matthew Bruce.

Merritt feels City proved they can trouble the top sides.

He said: “I think with the Woking performance (in the FA Trophy) and again today we showed we’e not a million miles away.

“But we’ve got to keep working and keep believing in what we’re trying to do.

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“Fylde have been together for two or three years now.

“They’ve had a bit of success coming up last season, they've added to their squad by hand-picking the players and you can see why they’re top of the league and pushing for the Conference.

“I thought they were better than us in just a couple of departments.

“We knew they hadn’t lost since November and it's a tough place to come. At least we went down fighting.”

A combination of injury, suspension and unavailability has left the City squad looking decidedly threadbare in recent matches.

But Merritt is hopeful that a return of key players will give his side a much-needed boost as their difficult run continues with the visit of second-placed Barrow on Saturday.

He said: “You know the fixture list at the start of the season and we’ve got to play all the top teams at some point.

“We don’t fear any of them, it’s just key areas where we were lacking today and that’s what we’re looking to address.”

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