Mansfield Town

Sometimes as a football fan you feel you know what is going to happen before it does, other times you talk it up and the complete opposite happens and sometimes football just surprises you completely!

Since the heartbreaking FA Cup exit (still fuming about the second goal, and getting more angry each time I see it!) City have signed two new lads from Bristol City (everyones least favourite Bristol team!) Joe Bryan and Aaron Amadi-Holloway, who were apparently both "defenders" however on arriving at Twerton Park, I was told that Amadi-Holloway was a forward, who changed to a centre back and then back to a forward, so basically we didn't have a clue!

The team had a few changes from Wednesday, with Jason Matthews replacing Glynn Garner, Marc Canham coming back from suspension and Joe Bryan starting on the left wing (this is one of the alleged defenders!) Lee Phillips was once again on the bench again.

The game started very slowly with neither side really threatening much, and a much sparser (and quieter crowd) than Wednesday were all sort of stuck in a maliase. Bryan was causing some issues with his running and pace, and on 19 a threaded through ball found Sean Canham, who turned the fullback and snapped in a shot at goal, the keeper parried it but for once this season a parry found a stripey shirt, and Marley Watkins very cooly slotted the ball home with the keeper still struggling to get himself back up and set from the Canham shot.

Then a goal I don't think I can accurately describe (partly I'll admit as I was chatting to Notters and had took my attention away from the pitch...) but Meikle seemed to cross from just in front of the burger van and his looping cross caught in the wind, and a cross which was clearly heading wide took a blast of hurricane strength wind and dropped over Matthews into the net. Unbelievable, unfuckingbelievable! City are officially cursed, that goal was so undeserved it was ridiculous but here it was 1-1 and half time.

For this game I'd gone to Twerton with my Dad and another Twerton virgin, and it is always bizzare to hear people who are unaffected by your allegiance and prior prejudices discuss a team you hold so dear! Both were in agreement that Marc Canham was having a superb game and is clearly a talented midfielder.

A note at this point which will come to point in a second is that the game was refereed by Amy Fearn, and she had a pretty poor game. This isn't a criticism of her as she's a woman, as I have been critical of referees in other games see Luton, Dagenham & Redbridge x2! But Fearn has form having had a shocker in the Stockport game a few weeks back.

In the 2nd half City started the brighter, but it wasn't until Scott Murray came on for Bryan on 64 that City truly turned on the style, and from that moment on City were dominant and should, should have got win number two. Murray again added a pep, thrust and inventiveness that is missing from our play, and as much as I love Adie Britton if he doesn't start playing more attacking and utilising the likes of Murray more I am going to start getting pissed off.

To another moment with Fearn, M Canham had a freekick which he took well, before suddenly the play was stopped and he was booked for not waiting for the whistle. Ridiculous really, but the 5 minutes later she doesn't blow the whistle, so Canham is standing their arms outstretched screaming for her to be consistent, as I said, she's awful and this continues!

Lee Phillips and Amadi-Holloway came on for both Canhams and A A-H (as I might refer to him from now on!) went up front. A A-H looks a unit, big strong and quick, and bloody hellfire has he got a good touch and generally he looked a threat. So City keep banging on the door, Murray has chances, Lee has chances A A-H has chances, even Simmo almost scored in one of the best short passing moves I've ever seen! Then Murray breaks down the crosses in, and Phillips taps it home from a yard out 2-1! We're going to win!!!! Then no, whats this? It's been disallowed, for offside (football you bastard, after Wednesday as well) Not convinced is all I will say, I thought the ball was played sideways, and it flicked off a defender, which as we now all know is apparently not offside....

Then right at the last Amadi-Holloway blasts a volley towards the Bath End and it agonisingly sails just wide. 1-1 it finishes, but God we were good in the last 30.

Britton has to go for it, when we attack we seem unstoppable, while as we all know defensively we are terrible. And on an even brighter note, it might have only been 30 minutes, but Aaron Amadi-Holloway reminded me so much of Kaid Mohamed it is untrue, if he can be only half as important as Kaid was, we might, might have a chance of staying up. While we are still odds on to go down, we are raging at the dying of the light and we have to keep believing.

Anger, disappointment, pride and questions

This is being written the day of the game having only just got back from Twerton Park. As mentioned in the last post, ESPN were to televise the replay between City and Dagenham & Redbridge.

First thing, for every football fan who raves about TV coverage, try standing in your usual spot with a newly build temporary TV gantry in the way!! Not happy! But will take the £33,500 as said before (although they didn't take me up on the offer of a Tribute at the Crown!) the first half for City was dire.

We barely created a thing, lacked penetration, and somehow were looking toothless against what must be one of the worst Football League teams of all time (apart from the current Plymouth team obviously...) we resorted to long punts downfield and very little happened for the first 19 minutes, and I was thinking to myself "I bet they wish they'd chosen a different game for TV" then on 20 minutes a cross was swung over and Woodall headed it home. Can't say more as despite hoping around like a loon the Bath End temporary gantry got in the way.

This did seem to spur City into life. I got completely confused by the 7:15 kick off, and out of instinct at seeing my clock point to quarter to I headed to the tea bar thinking the half was coming to a close. Bought a drink, said hello to Shane and the ever helpful and enternally loved volunteers and wondered why I hadn't seen a queue or the added time board! Realised my mistake and chuckled, but decided to stay on the tea bar steps for the much superior view, at which point Alex Russell sent over a freekick which hit the post. According to sources the Waddler couldn't understand how it hadn't gone in and neither could we.

So the first half ended, and so came the anger, at the insipid, listless awfullness being played out by the men in black and white. We wandered to the Bath End, and this time thankfully the gantry wasn't in the way. We chatted and arguements were made for and against Scotty Murray.

Adie once again opted for the cautious approach and made no half time changes, leaving some understandably frustrated fans. City started to get more of a grip on the game, and Lee Phillips came on for Russell, and the stripes pressed more. Then out of nowhere the ball dropped to Adam Connolly 25 yards out and he smashed a thunderbolt home, I haven't celebrated much this season, but the surge was one of superb proportions. Super Scotty Murray then did come on for Sean Canham, and instantly was creating chances, and one jinking run will long live in the memory.

City had chances to snatch it at the end with a Murray cross barely evading a diving Lee Phillips, while Lewis Hogg hammered a shot that Lewington did well to parry. Normal time finished 1-1, and we were all over them in the last 15.

The extra time kicked off and after a while Jimmer came on for Burnell, and was involved in a hell of a controversy. The ball was kicked forward by a D&R player, and Jim tried to flick the ball towards Garner, and it broke to Nurse, who rounded Garner and slotted the ball home....now the controversy, Nurse was clearly offside, by a mile now Jim might have flicked the ball as it passed him, but surely he was offside when the ball was originally played forward? But this might be the classic example of the ridiculous stages of the offside rule now.

With City chasing the game Dagenham broke and scored another, City lost 3-1 in a scoreline which so flatters the away team its ridiculous.

The disappointment is that City could've and maybe should have won this game easily, especially if they didn't start so poorly and so defensively.

Pride, that a team so devoid of confidence this season managed to take it so close, you cannot criticise the team if they play with that much committment.

Questions, depend on the offside rule and generally whether the goal was deserved, however, as stated, this was written without seeing tv replays so I reserve the right to retract this. Another savagely disappointing game in this season of neverending misery was the unjust reward of a night City shone on the national stage.

Extreme excitement from unexpected sources

As mentioned a few times within this blog many non-league teams are suffering from financial difficulties, with many of our opponents at differing times almost being on the verge of extinction (see Wrexham this season, and Kidderminister last) and while Bath City, are thankfully not in immediate danger of going out of existence, all stripes are accutely aware of the financial tightrope City walk.

The difference between City and the others is that we're run by a sensible board, and that the supporters (via the Supporters Society) own a large portion of the club, and therefore have a say in its running. However, even taking this into account, City made a loss of around £70k last year, and have some long standing debts. But an unlikely cash and morale boost arrived this week when ESPN announced that City v.s Dagenham and Redbridge would be one of the televised replays! Bloody hell!

Now I like most non-league fans have a deep seated loathing of all things televised, as the advent of Sky and Rupert effing Murdoch (how good is it to see the Aussie twat getting grilled for NOTW stuff!?) has played a huge part in ruining English football, allowing the rich to get richer and screwing over the rest. However, as the fine American gents at ESPN will be paying City £33,500 for bringing their cameras to Twerton Park I will gratefully receive them and will even buy them a pint of Tribute in The Old Crown if they so desire!

For all followers of top teams, I'm sure the visit of the cameras means nothing, but for all the stripes I know the excitement is massive. The thoughts of beautiful, wonderful if slightly knocked about Twerton being on the telly is amazing, and all the singers are relishing the moment to shine on national tv. Plans are afoot as to where to place the flags for maximum exposure and we look forward (we don't actually look forward to it!) welcoming Steve McManananananaman and the Waddler to Twerton.

City are away at Southport this weekend, and hopefully will get a win to ensure that we go into the replay full of confidence and on a decent run, if we manage to win the game as well we would receive £18,000 win bonus, which to go with our £33,500 telly money, would go a long way to helping fund this season, and possibly provide Adie funds to get us out of the relegation zone, from small acorns do mighty oaks grow.

Dagenham & Redbridge First Round F.A. Cup

City travelled to Dagenham and Redbridge for the first round proper of the F.A. Cup this year, meaning a early start was required, getting up on a Saturday at the same time as you do all week isn't my idea of a good time, but needs must and for the first time ever I was getting the supporters coach to the game. 

An enjoyment of a fine ale and the coaches anti-alcohol rules (and generally the coach means you are told where to be and when) has meant I have shunned the "Berkleys special" for as long as possible! But all in all the journey was ok, and will be used when the need arises again! 

We arrived at Victoria Road in time to collect the prepaid tickets and have a few in the clubhouse, it was in the clubhouse that we heard the stunning news that Jamie Cook was to start with Lee Phillips on the bench, naturally everyone disregarded this as Jamie Cook has been shite all year, but no looking at the official teamsheet and there he was, very interesting.

The ties were played on the Remembrance Weekend and the occasion was marked by a bugler playing the Last Post and an impeccably observed minutes silence.

The small Barking & Dagenham College Stand that had been allocated to City had filled up with an impressive black and white army, and a good atmosphere was soon created under the low roof. The opening few minutes were scrappy but D&R definitely were having the better of it, with Citys only chance falling to Sean Canham who drove straight at the keeper.

However, against the run of play and urged on by their vocal backing the stripes drew first blood. On 11 minutes Marley Watkins collected the ball and attempted a through ball, the D&R defender slipped and the ball flicked off of him into the path of Sean Canham who slotted the ball cooly past Chris Lewington in the Dagenham goal.

The City hordes in full voice

The away end errupted and for the next 15 minutes City had the better of the chances, however, the league opposition soon started to excert more pressure and Jim Rollo was struggling to deal with the pace of Jon Nurse and definitely had his poorest game for a while. City dropped further and further back. Damien Scannell was causing problems for Sekani Simpson, but was also a diving bastard and received a deserved stream of abuse after going down expecting a free kick for the cleanest of tackles.

Glyn Garner almost pushed the ball into his own net having gone wide to close a forward down and getting a dangerous hand onto the ball, luckily for City the ball dribbled harmlessly across goal. However, with half time approaching Nurse beat Jimmer for pace again, floated in a cross and Woodall leapt to head the cross in. City clung on until half time and went in at 1-1.

At half time Jim was replaced by Charlie Clough, and for once the removal of Rollo was agreed with. After the break though, City rallied and started to look the more likely to get a goal. Then came the main controversy of the game, Watkins was set through on goal by Canham and Lewington raced from his goal, Watkins rounded the keeper and went down with the keeper appearing to by last man. The referee blew his whistle, called the keeper over and flourished...a yellow! Screams of derision went up for the away fans, City players surrounded the referee querying the decision and apparently shouts of "cheat" came from the directors box! However, there is more than a few of us who believed Marley took a rubbish touch, realised he wouldn't get there and went down too easily. 

Jamie Cook was actually looking like a footballer and tried an audacious lob that almost came off, if that had dropped in God only knows what would have happened in the away end.  The game then almost tailed off, until the dying moments when City applied the pressure and could have almost won the tie but for some good saves by Lewington. 

The game finished as a draw and we await the replay on the 22nd. The long coach journey home started, and finally 13 hours after setting off I arrived home. The romance of the cup is still alive for some! And a potential home tie to Exeter City has been pulled from the draw so a potentially money raising tie is in sight.

Undeserved rewards

Football is a weird old game. Grimsby Town once again left Twerton Park without beating the mighty stripes, making it four games without tasting victory against City. How though is anyones guess!

City were appalling in the first half, devoid of creativity, flair, imagination, guile or any such adjective I can think of to describe skill. Grimsby went 1-0 up with their first attack of the game, and City struggled to string a couple of passes together. The team was lacking width and pace, and were sluggish and trooped off at half time to barely a mumour from the crowd.

Scott Murray came on at half time for Lee Phillips, and as of yet no one seems to know if that was a tactical decision, injury or what, but given Lee is one of the bright points in this City side it seemed an odd decision. On 51 minutes City conceeded again, with Makofo getting his second of the game with a headed goal. 2-0 and City still looking like strangers.

However, City won a corner in the 57th minute, the ball was crossed in looped up and with Gethin Jones underneath it he flopped to the ground, the referee who was appallingly shite (see the Luton game for more examples!) all day gave a penalty. Possibly the softest penalty I have ever seen given. Marc Canham stepped up and hammered home his third penalty of the season, meaning City finally have scored more penalties than they have missed this season!

Scott Murray who had been a threat since he came on kept seeing more of the ball and was causing problems to the Grimsby defence. Then Marley Watkins picked up the ball and ran at the defence, he slid a good through ball along the ground towards Sean Canham, the Grimsby keeper charged off of his line and Canham brilliantly finished with a little chip over the keeper, so unexpectedly after offering very little all game City were back in the game. 2-2 with over a quarter of an hour remaining.

However, soon after the referee once again came to the fore and sent of Marc Canham. Canham's tackle was a little late and high, but a booking seemed adequate, but the ref brandished a straight red, which means Canham will miss the FA Cup game at Dagenham, seriously weakening our already weak chances in that game. The referee then proceeded to give fairly awful decisions, and the whining and cheating from Grimsby was unbelievable. At one point the referees poor decisions got to me and I ran down 6 steps of the Popular Side unleashing a stream of invective that would have made a sailor blush.

The game finished 2-2 and City have managed to go two games unbeaten! If we can continue with this and get a result at Dagenham who knows what may happen...