Oxford City romped to victory in their final meeting in Southern League Division 3 West to clinch promotion to Division 2 South in style on Saturday.

City's crushing victory ensured they finished joint-top with Aldershot, although they were denied the title by virtue of match points.

With just 11 points separating the two teams going into the final round of the season, City knew that they had to win by a greater margin than Aldershot, so the pressure was on.

With the absence of main thrower Ben Kelsey, it was left to the runners and jumpers to ensure the victory, and 20 wins across the board ensured City's promotion.

After the early exchanges, a victory, let alone an emphatic one, was looking in some doubt as Haslemere started like a train.

Spirited efforts from Phil Castle and Anthony Palman-Brown in the pole vault brought season's best performances with jumps of 2.80m and 2.60m respectively, but not enough to secure the wins.

The shot too, did not go City's way, as both athletes finished in third place.

The tide began to turn as the return of Jack Plant to the team saw a brace of wins - firstly in the high jump - where he cleared 1.65m.

This was quickly followed by an effortless victory in the 400m hurdles in 1min 8.5secs.

Francis Jamera continued his impressive 100m season, winning in 11.4secs, while Robbie Keeping clocked 2.19.2 to win the A string 800m.

Gareth Davies and Hunter Riach then clinched an A and B string double in the long jump with leaps of 6.07m and 5.87m.

Steve Male recorded a fine win in the A string 5,000m, clocking 15.56.6.

City then really began to turn the screw with nine events remaining as Davies and Riacha recorded two more wins in the triple jump with leaps of 12.67m and 11.77m respectively.

Ian Castle and Palman-Brown then battled with one another in the 110m hurdles to bag another couple of wins in 21.4s and 21.5s.

This was followed swiftly with two more victories in the 200m - Francis Jamera battling hard until coming out on top with a quick time of 22.9s and Tapiwa Mtiba destroying his opposition in 24.8s with a winning margin of some 30m.

With four events left, City hammered home their advantage with another four wins from six events, including solid victories from Male and Keeping in the 1500m.

The 4x100m relay team finished the season unbeaten in a time of 48.1secs, and the 4x400m quartet wrapped things up, bring the baton home first in 3.45.9.

Result: 1 Oxford C 152pts, 2 Haslemere 121, 3 Wimborne & Poole 94, 4 Newton Abbott 94.

A STRING DETAILS

Pole vault: 2 P Castle 2.80. High jump: 2 I Castle 1.65. Hammer: 3 A Palman-Brown 23.00. Long jump: 1 G Davies 6.07. 400mH: 2 I Castle 1.08.8. 100m: 1 F Jamera 11.4. 800m: 1 R Keeping 2.19.2. Javelin: 2 I Castle 41.31. Shot: 3 A Palman-Brown 8.87. 5000m: 1 S Male 15.56.7. Triple jump: 1 G Davies 12.67. 400m: 3 C Williams 1.00.9. 110mH: 1 I Castle 21.4. 200m: 1 F Jamera 22.90. Discus: 4 A Palman-Brown 23.84. 1500m: 1 S Male 4.30.1. 4x100m: 1 A Palman-Brown, J Plant, T Mtiba, F Jamera 48.1. 3000m s/c: 4 I Castle 13.24.5. 4x400m: 1 H Riach, T Mtiba, G Davies, R Keeping 3.45.9.

Final standings: 1 Aldershot, Farnham & District 19pts (725 match points), 2 Oxford City 19 (715), 3 Newquay & Par 18 (715), 4 Basingstoke 14 (623), 5 Radley 14 (617), 10 Abingdon Amblers 11 (588).