YORK City have now gone 12 matches without a home win following a 1-0 defeat to Oxford United.

Teenager James Roberts' first-half strike secured the points for the visitors with the biggest cheer of the afternoon from the Bootham Crescent faithful greeting Josh Carson's 78th-minute substitute outing following eight months on the sidelines with cruciate ligament damage.

Fit-again Wes Fletcher forced the first save of the afternoon, calling Ryan Clarke into a near-post parry after running on to Lewis Montrose’s through ball.

A curling Michael Coulson effort from the edge of the box then had Clarke well beaten but thudded back into play off the crossbar.

Jake Hyde also headed into Clarke’s hands before Oxford opened the scoring against the run of play on 34 minutes after Alex Cisak had tipped over a Brian Howard free kick.

The resulting flag kick, delivered by Howard, was poorly defended as Danny Hylton won a near-post header and the ball found an unmarked Roberts, who finished from four yards.

Chances fell to both teams early in the second half with Clarke beating out a 15-yard Montrose drive after elusive play by City skipper Russell Penn and Cisak pushing a firm Alfie Potter shot around his near post.

Cisak also had to be alert to prevent Roberts grabbing a second goal on the counter attack before being beaten by the teenage marksman on 82 minutes only for the ball to hit his right-hand upright after Penn had given the ball away to Hylton in midfield.

City: Cisak, McCoy, Lowe, Zubar, Ilesanmi, Meikle (Straker, 46), Montrose (Summerfield, 70), Penn, Couslon, Hyde, Fletcher (Carson, 78). Subs not used: Mooney, McCombe, Halliday, Platt.

Oxford: Clarke, Riley, Mullins, Wright, Holmes-Dennis, Hylton, Rose, Whing, Howard (O'Dowda, 73), Potter, Roberts. Subs not used: Meades, Raynes, Ruffels, Collins, Crocombe, Barnett.

Attendance: 3,363 (468 from Oxford)