Oxford City’s play-off challenge may be over, but general manager Justin Merritt believes it is important to end their Vanarama Conference North campaign positively, writes MATTHEW BRUCE.

Tomorrow afternoon they host fifth-placed Guiseley, whose 2-1 victory over Chorley last weekend ended City’s hopes of gatecrashing the play-off places.

And despite leading his side to their highest ever finish, Merritt admitted he will be reflecting on what might have been.

“In football there are always what ifs and we’ll certainly be looking back at where we’ve missed out,” he said.

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“Over the 42 games this season Guiseley have accumulated enough points and we haven’t.

“But we’ve shown a dramatic improvement this season, so we have a lot to be proud of and we have got a lot of good things that we can add to.”

City have finished the season impressively, with only one defeat in 11 games.

However, with no wins from their last three home games, Merritt feels it is important City finish with a victory to maintain positivity through the summer.

He said: “We’ve had a good run over the last few months and we want to keep it going and finish on a positive note.

“We’ve never beaten Guiseley, so that definitely gives us an incentive, and it would be nice to get a home win to finish off with.

“For us, we don’t want to be looking back with any negative feelings and I think if we just don’t turn up and lose then, certainly for the coaching staff, it will leave us feeling a little bit flat.

“We just want a good finish to what has been a very entertaining season.”

TOMORROW’S SQUAD Oxford City (v Guiseley, home): from Salva, Coulson, Benjamin, Stonehouse, Santiago, Lapoujade, Henderson, Fofana, Balmy, Wilson, Yussuf, Scott, Barcelos, Winters, Del Alamo, Jackson, Mullings, Pond.