BEN Dudzinski says promotion is Oxford City’s aim after he penned a new deal with the club.

The 26-year-old goalkeeper was a key player for the Hoops as they reached the play-offs in Vanarama National League South last season.

He was rewarded for his displays with a place in the division’s team of the season.

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After committing to City for the upcoming campaign, Dudzinski said being pushed to improve by the club’s coaching staff was an important reason for making a decision on his future.

He said: “I’m really pleased to have re-signed, this will be my third season now – it’s a brilliant club and I absolutely love it here, so I’m delighted.

“I’ve had numerous reasons to want to stay here at Oxford City – first of all, I’m going into my third season and my past two years have been brilliant on the pitch, and then off it, it’s been great too.

“The club’s filled with great people everywhere, and that extends to the team and the players – it’s a great group to be a part of and I’m excited to be a part of it again.

“I know it’s an environment where I’m going to be challenged and I’m going to be pushed to get better and improve, and that really aligns with my philosophy, which is that I never want to be the finished article.

“I aways want to be looking to improve and better my game, and I feel like I’m in an environment which helps me to do that.”

Getting Dudzinski to commit to the club is an important piece of business for City, with the former Hartlepool United trainee keeping 14 clean sheets in National League South, and at one point managed seven shutouts in eight games.

Three players have already left City to test themselves at higher levels this summer, with Ewan Clark, George Harmon and Zico Asare joining Bristol City, Ross County and Maidenhead United respectively.

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Those departures will make Dudzinksi’s deal even more essential for the Hoops as they look to challenge at the top end of the table again.

“In terms of our aims for the season, we have to be ambitious again and the ambition will be promotion,” said Dudzinski.

“That’s a big goal to set at this time and it’s a long, long season so we just have to break that down into chunks and processes.

“That starts with putting the hard work in during pre-season – we’ve kept a really good group of players from last year and that provides a really nice foundation moving forward.

“We’ll need to integrate new players into our group and establish how we want to play, and how Ross [Jenkins] wants us to play, and then just do as much as we can to hit the ground running in August.

“It’s a long season so giving yourself a chance for promotion doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be up there for the entirety of the season, but we just need to be resilient throughout the year and know that at any one time, if you can get in a nice run of form, it can propel you into a great position.

“It’s a long road ahead but first and foremost, hard work now in pre-season, and then hit the ground running in August.”