MARK Jones believes his Oxford City side are on the right track ahead of their final pre-season friendly.

The Vanarama National League South club make the short trip to North counterparts Brackley Town tomorrow.

City head into the fixture on a three-match unbeaten run – but it is not the results which have boss Jones feeling optimistic.

Retaining the core of his squad, including top-scorer Matt Paterson, has proved key for continuity, while influential duo Joe Oastler and Rob Sinclair are now into the second year of their deals.

Jones has also added seven new faces and believes City, who only confirmed their safety with a handful of games remaining last season, are a stronger outfit this year.

He said: “ Looking at the group we’ve got, I do think we’re in a much better position.

“Last year, I did bring a lot of new players in and we almost had a new team.

“We’ve not had as many players coming in this time, because we managed to keep hold of the nucleus and I think that could be an advantage.

“I’m pleased with what we’ve got and I don’t think anyone is talking about us.

“They’re not giving us much of a chance, but that’s not always a bad thing to be under the radar.

“I’m quite confident we might surprise a few and do better than some people are thinking.”

City signed Luke Ruddick, Kyran Wiltshire, Mike Atkinson and Eze Ibrahim on Wednesday.

Jones believes it is unlikely the club will add any further new faces before their season opener at home to Eastbourne Borough on August 4.

He said: “In the short term, we won’t really be looking to bring anyone else in.

“We’re not going to be working with a big squad of players.

“We wanted to make sure we secured the players from last year that we wanted to keep – that was the first task.

“We added three players early in the summer and that still left us a bit short and we’ve had quite a few people training with us in pre-season.

“The four lads that we’ve signed have done really well and deserve an opportunity to start the season.”

Tomorrow’s warm-up game against Brackley should provide Jones with a true reflection of his side’s capabilities.

But he knows taking on last season’s FA Trophy winners will be tough.

Jones said: “It’s a good opportunity for us to play against a team from our level.

“They’re very strong and had such a fantastic season last year.

“We know it’s going to be a real good test for us to see where we are.”