OXFORD City's first display of pre-season gave boss Mark Jones plenty of encouragement.

Goals from Stefan Brown, Jack Self and Daniel Rowe put them 3-1 up early in the second half against Oxford United.

While the Sky Bet League One side, who had already played one friendly, hit back to finish 5-3 winners, Jones felt his squad will have got a lot from the game.

He said: "We had to do a lot of chasing and defending, which is a great exercise for us.

"Obviously Oxford United had the majority of the ball, but when you have that you’ve always got a chance on the break.

"So although we had to do a lot of chasing, we did look quite threatening on the counter-attack.

"We found ourselves in a winning position, but overall it was a good exercise.

"You get much more out of a game like that than perhaps playing against a lower opposition and winning 4-0.

"Stef Brown and Daniel Rowe took their goals very well on debut and it was a nice header from Jack Self, who I thought was excellent. There are lots of positives.

"We were taking good players off and then we looked a bit ragged in the last 20 minutes, but that’s probably to be expected at this stage of pre-season."

A crowd of 797 was also very welcome.

Jones said: "We thank Oxford United and Karl (Robinson) for bringing the team here. 

"It’s great for us, because at this time of the year in the summer months when there’s not an awful lot going on down the club, just having a nice gate in pre-season helps us pay a few bills in the next month or so."