For the second time in the space of five days, Frome Town lost against a side that moved into second spot in the league last night.

This time, the victors were Oxford City, who were well worth their three-goal victory on a night of torrential rain and on a pitch that stood up to the conditions remarkably well.

Oxford City came to the Aldersmith Stadium for their second match in three days, and after losing on Monday, they were desperate to take some points away as they looked to cement their place in the play-offs.

Despite heavy rain for much of the day, and rain throughout most of the match, the pitch looked good and presented no real problems throughout the match.

With Frome’s ever-present goalkeeper Darren Chitty still struggling with an injury picked up on Saturday, Ed Quelch took his place between the sticks and the match kicked off in front of a sparse crowd.

The early stages of the match saw Frome make most of the running, and a sixth minute flick from Dean Evans brought a low save from Oxford’s 6’9” goalkeeper Jason Mooney, who did well again in the 15th and 18th minutes to deny first Luke Ballinger and then Alex Lapham.

At the other end, Quelch brought off a stunning save from a point blank header in the 21st minute, but Frome still seemed to be having most of the attacking chances.

Slightly against the run of play, Oxford opened the scoring in the 34th minute as Declan Benjamin let fly from outside the area - the ball took a wicked deflection and ended up curving viciously down and just under the bar, giving Quelch no real chance.

Quelch did well a few minutes later to get down and tip away a low screamer that was destined for the far corner, but he could do nothing to prevent Oxford scoring from the resulting corner as the unmarked Steve Basham rose and headed powerfully home from close range.

The two goal burst in as many minutes changed the face of the game, and City now looked comfortable protecting their lead, with Frome struggling to make an impression, and the minutes up to half time produced no real incidents.

The second half saw Oxford comfortable with their lead and playing a lot of possession football in the Frome half, and although the Robins struggled manfully, no chances arrived until the 65th minute when a long, curling cross from Mike Reaney was met at the far post by the head of Matt Smith, but he managed to get under the ball and it flew well over the cross bar.

There was plenty of endeavour from both sides throughout the rest of the half, but few incidents until Oxford made it 3-0 in the 87th minute as Liam Malone curled a left foot shot low into the far corner of the Frome net to give Oxford a well deserved victory.