Oxford City boss 'deflated' after missing 'golden' chances against Chesterfield

The Spireites won 2-0 on Tuesday night to extend their lead at the top to 23 points. They could clinch the title on Saturday if they beat Oldham Athletic and Barnet drop points.

City’s Josh Parker saw his penalty saved by Harry Tyrer at 1-0 and they also squandered a number of other good opportunities.

"I am a little bit deflated because we put in an absolute shift to get something out of that game,” Jenkins said.

“They (Chesterfield) had some chances and they took their chances. We had a lot of chances and we didn’t take ours. I think we have had four very good opportunities, one v ones, and a penalty. We had some golden ones. On another day we score four or five.

"It is really hard to criticise the players because they have put in an absolute shift.”

The defeat leaves part-time City rock-bottom and 14 points from safety but Jenkins was proud of their performance.

"We had to change the tactics slightly because the pitch was a little bit bobbly, it was a little lively, but we worked it really well,” he said.

"We respect Chesterfield massively for where they are but as soon as that whistle went the boys did the business. They were pressing and running over them and it was great application all-round.

"Big credit to the players for leaving work, coming up here, I haven’t seen them since the last game, no training in-between, and they have come in and applied themselves brilliantly.”

He added: "Visually in the table there is a massive gap but today there didn’t look like a massive gap. Others might say something different. They are a good team, they create overloads, the centre-forward movement up front is very clever, they have got some really good players, but we have created more than enough chances to put at least three goals away and not many teams do that here. We need to take the positives from it.”