As we all know, the main excitement of the festive season is not the celebration nor the presents, but is the festive football games.
City were scheduled to play on 22nd (Havant and Waterlooville, away), 26th (WsM, home) and 29th (Dorchester Town, home).
So come the 22nd December, and despite a 30th birthday party the night before (not mine I hasten to add!!) at 9:25 six stripes met and boarded the train to Havant, precisely 2 minutes later we received the call informing us that the game was off due to the rain. We broke the news to the 3 additional stripes who boarded the train at Bradford on Avon, the decision was made to disembark at Salisbury, and a jolly boys outing commenced, where many great pints of Hop Back breweries beers were sunk, including a trip to the iconic Wyndham Arms, where Hop Back was founded, so the cancelled Saturday was salvaged and a good time was had by all.
Come Boxing Day and the biblical rain continued to sweep the southwest, luckily Twerton Park's slope and normally good drainage continued, and the game was played. The visit of Weston Super Mare, and their 7 fans is definitely a come down from the Conference National days.
As we arrived at the ground the weather was atrocious, and you could tell how much water the pitch was containing. The weather definitely played a part in a game that had moments of quality (most of it supplied by Charlie Griffin) and moments of farce. The stripes battled manfully in the conditions, which worsened at one point, and a lot of us expected the game to be abandoned, but the referee allowed the game to continue.
Weston super Mare scored just after the half hour, with the use of a hand (I think it was Kane Ingram who handled it home, but am not 100% certain) Shortly afterwards Griffin was fed, the keeper saved, but Griffin slipped and slid across the wet turf and slammed into the concrete wall that surrounds the pitch at Twerton Park. Griffin seemed momentarily unconscious, and there was genuine concern for the burly centre forward, thankfully he picked himself off of the floor after some treatment.
Moments before half time a ball was whipped into the WsM box, and Griffin challenged for it, the keeper spilled the ball and in his desperation to retrieve it, he hauled Charlie down, or at least that is what the referee must have seen as the penalty was awarded, personally it seemed a bit soft. Griffin stepped up and fired the ball home. 1-1 at HT.
Half time seemed to be taking an age, and then there was an announcement over the tannoy that the linesman had injured himself, and that they were after a replacement from the stands, a fully qualified City fan was found, and thanks to him we were able to continue the game.
For the first 20 minutes of the second half, the stripes battered WsM and should have scored, but a combination of keeper, weather, unlucky breaks and poor finishing cost City, as WsM scored after the dominant period to make it 1-2. City seemed to run out of ideas, and strength as the pitch rapidly began to resemble No Man's Land from the First World War (in terms of mud obviously...) Sean Canham was brought on, and it has since turned out that the lanky frontman is moving to Australia soon. The game ended, and ridiculously and shamefully people booed a team that had done it's best in testing conditions.
Then came what should have been the best game of the Christmas spell, Dorchester Town at home, however, as I walked into town, Victoria Park was basically underwater and news of a pitch inspection at 10:30 caused my heart to drop, as expected the game was postponed.
Therefore out of 3 games, two which we would have expected the stripes to win, we have had two postponed and one lost! Not what City wanted, with the weather set to continue, I can't see the game against WsM on New Years Day going as well, so we will be having a lot more Tuesday night games soon!
Saturday, 29 December 2012
Monday, 3 December 2012
A game of two halves (and other cliches)
Given the ridiculous way fixture lists seem to be created, and our propensity for being knocked out of cup games this was the first game at Twerton in almost a month, and is the last game until Boxing Day.
City were welcoming Eastbourne Borough who as recently as 2010/11 were in the Conference National, but like us soon dropped back into the Conference South. For a team that were once in the national league they brought a very small amount of away fans, with myself seeing precisely zero fans, I assume there must have been a few, but I imagined they might have brought a coach load at least.
Since the last home game the stripes have taken Tom Nichols on loan from Exeter City, and the young forward was keeping Charlie Griffin out of the team, Jason Mellor continued in goal, and Kerry Morgan was still on the bench, much to the annoyance of some of the people around me.
This was the first game that had the real bite of winter to it, as the steam rose from cups of Bovril and teas all around and hands were covered in gloves, muffling any clapping.
Adam Connolly seemed to be regaining some of his verve from years gone by, and City started brightly enough, however, our poor defence struck once again. A long ball was misjudged by Preece, and Mellor raced out of his goal and was caught in no mans land allowing Kezie Ibe to lob the ball over Mellor into the unguarded net.
City battled back, and but didn't create many chances, and right on the stroke of half time a freekick was given away by Danny Ball, the resulting freekick was whipped in, and for the umpteenth time this season City conceded to a headed goal.
In the second half the stripes rallied, and gave the proverbial 110%, but were unable to make a difference until Morgan and Griffin came on for the ineffectual Canham and Low. Kerry Morgan showed again how much of a threat he is to a tiring full back, by doing the defender on a number of occasions. City reduced the arrears on 76 minutes, when a ball into the box eventually found its way to Danny Ball, who's strike took at least one, possibly two deflections before ending up in the net 1-2, and with 15 minutes left there was opportunity to secure a point or more.
The two substitutes linked up soon after, where an inviting cross from Morgan was met with a thundering header by Griffin, sadly the ball crashed off the crossbar and away. The fans started to really get behind the men in black and white, and City swarmed in desperate search for an equaliser, Mark Preece blazed over the bar, when he should have done better. Finally, agonisingly for Eastbourne City snatched a draw when Kerry Morgans freekick pinballed around the box, before Gethin Jones lashed the ball home, a defender got to the ball but it was clearly over the line, and in the last minute City had secured a dramatic draw.
Sadly, we have to wait till Boxing Day for the next home game, but absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.
City were welcoming Eastbourne Borough who as recently as 2010/11 were in the Conference National, but like us soon dropped back into the Conference South. For a team that were once in the national league they brought a very small amount of away fans, with myself seeing precisely zero fans, I assume there must have been a few, but I imagined they might have brought a coach load at least.
Since the last home game the stripes have taken Tom Nichols on loan from Exeter City, and the young forward was keeping Charlie Griffin out of the team, Jason Mellor continued in goal, and Kerry Morgan was still on the bench, much to the annoyance of some of the people around me.
This was the first game that had the real bite of winter to it, as the steam rose from cups of Bovril and teas all around and hands were covered in gloves, muffling any clapping.
Adam Connolly seemed to be regaining some of his verve from years gone by, and City started brightly enough, however, our poor defence struck once again. A long ball was misjudged by Preece, and Mellor raced out of his goal and was caught in no mans land allowing Kezie Ibe to lob the ball over Mellor into the unguarded net.
City battled back, and but didn't create many chances, and right on the stroke of half time a freekick was given away by Danny Ball, the resulting freekick was whipped in, and for the umpteenth time this season City conceded to a headed goal.
In the second half the stripes rallied, and gave the proverbial 110%, but were unable to make a difference until Morgan and Griffin came on for the ineffectual Canham and Low. Kerry Morgan showed again how much of a threat he is to a tiring full back, by doing the defender on a number of occasions. City reduced the arrears on 76 minutes, when a ball into the box eventually found its way to Danny Ball, who's strike took at least one, possibly two deflections before ending up in the net 1-2, and with 15 minutes left there was opportunity to secure a point or more.
The two substitutes linked up soon after, where an inviting cross from Morgan was met with a thundering header by Griffin, sadly the ball crashed off the crossbar and away. The fans started to really get behind the men in black and white, and City swarmed in desperate search for an equaliser, Mark Preece blazed over the bar, when he should have done better. Finally, agonisingly for Eastbourne City snatched a draw when Kerry Morgans freekick pinballed around the box, before Gethin Jones lashed the ball home, a defender got to the ball but it was clearly over the line, and in the last minute City had secured a dramatic draw.
Sadly, we have to wait till Boxing Day for the next home game, but absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
Farnborough (home) - Apologies for the delay!
For one reason or another it has taken me over a week to write this, so I will not bother with the usual report and will direct your attention here...
What I will say about the game is this; it was a cracker. End to end, decent football, some bloody good goals. People are unbelievably still moaning, but in the last few games I've seen masses of goals, controversy and decent football. The Farnborough manager moaned and claimed the last chance of the game was over the line and blocked his own team from releasing the highlights, well all I can say is check this video out (courtesy of Palms) and make up your own minds.
Up the City.
What I will say about the game is this; it was a cracker. End to end, decent football, some bloody good goals. People are unbelievably still moaning, but in the last few games I've seen masses of goals, controversy and decent football. The Farnborough manager moaned and claimed the last chance of the game was over the line and blocked his own team from releasing the highlights, well all I can say is check this video out (courtesy of Palms) and make up your own minds.
Up the City.
Thursday, 1 November 2012
Eastleigh away, thankfully it was only a flying Tuesday visit
Having missed the home 3-1 win against Hornchurch, I was craving a stripey fix, so the Tuesday night game at Eastleigh seemed too good to miss. Having been moved to Yeovilton by work there is no chance I am catching the coach anymore, so was driving. Salisbury is enroute to Eastleigh (which is basically a glorified Southampton suburb, complete with Southampton airport) and it was there that I collected Palmer before continuing onto Eastleigh.
A certain City fan will tell you that The Cricketers Arms is one of the best pubs around and was highlighting it as a pub he was looking forward to, well why I do not know. It is ok, serves a few decent ales, but all in all is a posh Wetherspoon/Hungry Horse type of pub, and it does not hold a candle to The Bridge End Inn, King and Crown, or many of the brilliant pubs we have visited in the last few years.
In the pub, we met two other stripes, and were quickly joined by a third. One of the fans was trying to direct his father, brother and mate to the pub, with little success but amusing directions, we crammed into my car (it is a small car, 5 fully grown blokes in was a tad tight) and headed to the Silverlake Stadium, home to Eastleigh since 1957.
I had been to the ground in our promotion season, and since then they have added some extra roofing, but not the greatest roof as there are no terracing, so the roof is a good 8 yards away from the pitch! Weird, the only thing of note of the ground is a illuminated Spitfire a nod to the fact that the famous warplane was manufactured nearby.
Jim Rollo was playing in centre midfield due to an injury to Connolly, while Marc Canham is still out with his ankle injury sustained while coaching Bristol City youth, and again the injury list is building up. Eastleigh had the best of the opening and flew at City, the stripes could barely get out of their own half and within 16 minutes the stripes were two down. Garner pulled off a cracking double save to keep the score down, but City were being overrun.
However, against the run of play, in the 34th minute City managed to get a goal back, the ball was worked to Josh Low who strode forward and fired a shot in, the shot was fired straight at keeper Ross Flitney who spilled the ball into Chris Allen's pass, and the young midfielder fired home his 4th in 5 games, a good return and one of many reasons why City have signed him up on a long term deal.
The goal was to be a brief rally, as within 5 minutes Eastleigh had scored again. The goal came from some abysmal defending high up the pitch. City had a freekick which broke to the corner of the pitch, Aaron Brown and Allen (I think) were both there, but neither closed down the Eastleigh player, and within 20 seconds Eastleigh had scored from a breakaway goal. 3-1 at HT.
The second half was of dire quality, with minimal chances created, with Eastleigh content to sit back on their lead, while City played lots of sideways passes, but rarely burst forward with pace and conviction. City are not a bad team, but the similarity of our midfielders is definitely a problem. The game finished 3-1 with few clear cut chances. When you're best moment of the half is listening to Brian Yorke sing "Always look on the bright side of life" to himself you know it's been poor.
We headed home, with Palmer still waiting for his first league away win in 23 months, hopefully this run will finish soon.
A certain City fan will tell you that The Cricketers Arms is one of the best pubs around and was highlighting it as a pub he was looking forward to, well why I do not know. It is ok, serves a few decent ales, but all in all is a posh Wetherspoon/Hungry Horse type of pub, and it does not hold a candle to The Bridge End Inn, King and Crown, or many of the brilliant pubs we have visited in the last few years.
In the pub, we met two other stripes, and were quickly joined by a third. One of the fans was trying to direct his father, brother and mate to the pub, with little success but amusing directions, we crammed into my car (it is a small car, 5 fully grown blokes in was a tad tight) and headed to the Silverlake Stadium, home to Eastleigh since 1957.
I had been to the ground in our promotion season, and since then they have added some extra roofing, but not the greatest roof as there are no terracing, so the roof is a good 8 yards away from the pitch! Weird, the only thing of note of the ground is a illuminated Spitfire a nod to the fact that the famous warplane was manufactured nearby.
Jim Rollo was playing in centre midfield due to an injury to Connolly, while Marc Canham is still out with his ankle injury sustained while coaching Bristol City youth, and again the injury list is building up. Eastleigh had the best of the opening and flew at City, the stripes could barely get out of their own half and within 16 minutes the stripes were two down. Garner pulled off a cracking double save to keep the score down, but City were being overrun.
However, against the run of play, in the 34th minute City managed to get a goal back, the ball was worked to Josh Low who strode forward and fired a shot in, the shot was fired straight at keeper Ross Flitney who spilled the ball into Chris Allen's pass, and the young midfielder fired home his 4th in 5 games, a good return and one of many reasons why City have signed him up on a long term deal.
The goal was to be a brief rally, as within 5 minutes Eastleigh had scored again. The goal came from some abysmal defending high up the pitch. City had a freekick which broke to the corner of the pitch, Aaron Brown and Allen (I think) were both there, but neither closed down the Eastleigh player, and within 20 seconds Eastleigh had scored from a breakaway goal. 3-1 at HT.
The second half was of dire quality, with minimal chances created, with Eastleigh content to sit back on their lead, while City played lots of sideways passes, but rarely burst forward with pace and conviction. City are not a bad team, but the similarity of our midfielders is definitely a problem. The game finished 3-1 with few clear cut chances. When you're best moment of the half is listening to Brian Yorke sing "Always look on the bright side of life" to himself you know it's been poor.
We headed home, with Palmer still waiting for his first league away win in 23 months, hopefully this run will finish soon.
Sunday, 21 October 2012
No Angels
When City were facing relegation last year, one of the names that always cropped up when berating the team for dropping into the Conference South was Tonbridge Angels, normally along the lines of "I can't wait for the away game at Tonbridge Angels" etc etc., Now I don't know what it was about Tonbridge that particularly attracted the distain, or whether it was the unusual second naming of Angels, but sadly the team from Kent definitely was used as the lowest of the low.
The "Angels" moniker comes from when Tonbridge F.C., started playing at the Angel ground (formally home of Kent CCC) the ground was so named due to a hotel/inn called the Angel. So Tonbridge FC adopted the nickname of Angels, the original Tonbridge hit financial difficulties in 1976 and was liquidated, Tonbridge Angels were immediately formed to finish the season, and to keep football in Tonbridge. The only other bit of information I have about them, is that current England manager Roy Hodgson played for the original Tonbridge F.C. in his non league career.
I was already in London, so the journey to Kent was a fairly easy one, a direct train from Charing Cross dropping us in Tonbridge town centre. Now last season I wrote that Braintrees ground was the hardest ground to find, well while not quite being in that league of difficulty Tonbridge's Longmead Stadium is definitely a bit hidden!
Leaving the station you turn into the High Street which is like any other, however, it soon opens up and includes the remains of a castle, and Tonbridge school, which is unbelievably fancy. Keep going up side streets, until you reach Tonbridge cemetery, cut through the cemetery, and turn left and finally you reach the car park, however, even then it wasn't obvious which the main entrance was! Thankfully, we finally found the turnstyle, paid and entered.
The Longmead Stadium was built in 1980, and has a decent sized seated stand on the far side of the pitch, two smallish terrace ends, and a dug out side with a separate directors/press/officials stand. So all in all, a classic modernish non league ground, clubs must be amazed when they arrive at Twerton Park and see the grand old girl in all her glory.
After the travails of finding the ground, came the ecstasy and agony of the game! The pitch was showing the damage of the heavy rain, and by the corner flag I took up my position by in the first half, there were large patches of heavy mud.
Tonbridge started well, and had the early opportunities. Then on 10 minutes City had their first attack, Josh Low gained the ball on the right and hit a waist height cross into the box, a covering Tonbridge defender tried to block the ball, and it hit his arm. I instantly appealed, as did a few others, and the penalty was given. Tonbridge showed, what was to be a petulant streak, and berated the lino/ref, but to no avail.
Sean Canham stepped up to take the penalty, and hit a low, soft shot towards which Lee Worgan saved well, however, Low reacted quickest and pounced on the rebound, he rolled the ball along the ground and Sean Canham gratefully tapped in.
The Tonbridge defence (left back excepted) were big, bruising lads, who on a few occasions outmuscled the City players, sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly. However, the homeside were posing questions, and it was only through wasteful finishing that they were not able to restore parity.
City managed to double the lead in the 40th minute. Noah Keats was running towards the by-line on the left wing, and Tonbridge's number 2 (Sonny Miles I think) the massive number two appeared to push Keats in the back and the young City man was sent sprawling. However, a City fan who was much closer to the action than me says it was not a foul, so I can only defer to his viewpoint. Nevertheless the referee decided it was a push, and awarded a freekick. Aaron Brown floated the ball in, the ball was only cleared to Chris Allen about 19 yards out, who rifled his shot hard and low into the back of the net. Soon after this, Chris Allen was clattered, moments later he chased the left full back down and launched into the tackle, a combination of over eagerness and the wet pitch meant he carried on and his trailing leg clipped the number 3, to his credit he bounced straight back, but number 2 continued marking his card with me, by berating the player for his honesty and saying "you should have stayed down." The half time arrived with City leading 2-0.
We retreated to the clubhouse, for some warmth and a quick refreshment (Tonbridge brewery's "Rustic Bitter", it is always refreshing when a club puts on a local ale) and we left as the game restarted, after overhearing a discussion as to whether the club should shut the curtains on the bar as per FA regulations.
The Angels flew out of the traps in the second half, but again it was the stripes who were to extend their lead. Sean Canham slid a through ball to Low on the right, the wideman beat one man, before trying to turn and taking an awful touch, however, he just about managed to get a foot to the ball, before he was scythed down by a Tonbridge centre back. Nailed on penalty, this time Chris Allen stepped up and calmly slotted the ball home. 3-0 after 55 minutes, and City were surely cruising.
Then after a defensive mistake a cross was nodded home by Collin, 1-3. City restored their 3 goal cushion within 5 minutes when Connolly fed Canham, and the tall forward placed his shot into the side netting, 1-4 with only 18 minutes to play. I think the immortal words "even we can't mess this up" were muttered. Well City couldn't but God they came close.
As seems to be the way, the stripes suddenly sat deeper and deeper, and invited pressure onto themselves. Some interesting substitutions were made (for interesting read potentially wrong) but it appeared that the stripes were to come away with a three goal victory. Then in the 89th minute Elphick scored with his head, 2-4, probably a more accurate reflection of the game, a fair result, no problem. Then inexplicably the referee started to play a unbelievable amount of injury time (somewhere between 6-10 depending on who's watch you believe!) Tonbridge started to get corner after corner, and from one of these Gayle scored (95th minute.)
Tonbridge now attacked incessantly, and appealed for a penalty (not given) then in the 100th minute a freekick was given just outside the City box. Away fans faces drop, we've all seen this before, it's bound to go in. The freekick was fiercely struck, it is heading for the goal, I cannot believe it, how have we managed this, then a green blur and out of nowhere Glyn Garner gets his hand to the ball and pushes it over the bar, the referee immediately blows, and City have their first league win since September 1st.
The City players barely celebrated and trudged off, looking gaunt, while fans slumped thanking the Garner save and the referees whistle, Sean Canham quipped to a question "we like to keep you on your toes" but he also looked drained. However, the side need to take heart from a performance that did have positives (other than the win obviously!) Chris Allen in particular is showing signs of being a very good player. Onwards and upwards, lets bring on Hornchurch, and hopefully a 2-0 regulation win! UTC!
The "Angels" moniker comes from when Tonbridge F.C., started playing at the Angel ground (formally home of Kent CCC) the ground was so named due to a hotel/inn called the Angel. So Tonbridge FC adopted the nickname of Angels, the original Tonbridge hit financial difficulties in 1976 and was liquidated, Tonbridge Angels were immediately formed to finish the season, and to keep football in Tonbridge. The only other bit of information I have about them, is that current England manager Roy Hodgson played for the original Tonbridge F.C. in his non league career.
I was already in London, so the journey to Kent was a fairly easy one, a direct train from Charing Cross dropping us in Tonbridge town centre. Now last season I wrote that Braintrees ground was the hardest ground to find, well while not quite being in that league of difficulty Tonbridge's Longmead Stadium is definitely a bit hidden!
Leaving the station you turn into the High Street which is like any other, however, it soon opens up and includes the remains of a castle, and Tonbridge school, which is unbelievably fancy. Keep going up side streets, until you reach Tonbridge cemetery, cut through the cemetery, and turn left and finally you reach the car park, however, even then it wasn't obvious which the main entrance was! Thankfully, we finally found the turnstyle, paid and entered.
The Longmead Stadium was built in 1980, and has a decent sized seated stand on the far side of the pitch, two smallish terrace ends, and a dug out side with a separate directors/press/officials stand. So all in all, a classic modernish non league ground, clubs must be amazed when they arrive at Twerton Park and see the grand old girl in all her glory.
After the travails of finding the ground, came the ecstasy and agony of the game! The pitch was showing the damage of the heavy rain, and by the corner flag I took up my position by in the first half, there were large patches of heavy mud.
Tonbridge started well, and had the early opportunities. Then on 10 minutes City had their first attack, Josh Low gained the ball on the right and hit a waist height cross into the box, a covering Tonbridge defender tried to block the ball, and it hit his arm. I instantly appealed, as did a few others, and the penalty was given. Tonbridge showed, what was to be a petulant streak, and berated the lino/ref, but to no avail.
Sean Canham stepped up to take the penalty, and hit a low, soft shot towards which Lee Worgan saved well, however, Low reacted quickest and pounced on the rebound, he rolled the ball along the ground and Sean Canham gratefully tapped in.
The Tonbridge defence (left back excepted) were big, bruising lads, who on a few occasions outmuscled the City players, sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly. However, the homeside were posing questions, and it was only through wasteful finishing that they were not able to restore parity.
City managed to double the lead in the 40th minute. Noah Keats was running towards the by-line on the left wing, and Tonbridge's number 2 (Sonny Miles I think) the massive number two appeared to push Keats in the back and the young City man was sent sprawling. However, a City fan who was much closer to the action than me says it was not a foul, so I can only defer to his viewpoint. Nevertheless the referee decided it was a push, and awarded a freekick. Aaron Brown floated the ball in, the ball was only cleared to Chris Allen about 19 yards out, who rifled his shot hard and low into the back of the net. Soon after this, Chris Allen was clattered, moments later he chased the left full back down and launched into the tackle, a combination of over eagerness and the wet pitch meant he carried on and his trailing leg clipped the number 3, to his credit he bounced straight back, but number 2 continued marking his card with me, by berating the player for his honesty and saying "you should have stayed down." The half time arrived with City leading 2-0.
We retreated to the clubhouse, for some warmth and a quick refreshment (Tonbridge brewery's "Rustic Bitter", it is always refreshing when a club puts on a local ale) and we left as the game restarted, after overhearing a discussion as to whether the club should shut the curtains on the bar as per FA regulations.
The Angels flew out of the traps in the second half, but again it was the stripes who were to extend their lead. Sean Canham slid a through ball to Low on the right, the wideman beat one man, before trying to turn and taking an awful touch, however, he just about managed to get a foot to the ball, before he was scythed down by a Tonbridge centre back. Nailed on penalty, this time Chris Allen stepped up and calmly slotted the ball home. 3-0 after 55 minutes, and City were surely cruising.
Then after a defensive mistake a cross was nodded home by Collin, 1-3. City restored their 3 goal cushion within 5 minutes when Connolly fed Canham, and the tall forward placed his shot into the side netting, 1-4 with only 18 minutes to play. I think the immortal words "even we can't mess this up" were muttered. Well City couldn't but God they came close.
As seems to be the way, the stripes suddenly sat deeper and deeper, and invited pressure onto themselves. Some interesting substitutions were made (for interesting read potentially wrong) but it appeared that the stripes were to come away with a three goal victory. Then in the 89th minute Elphick scored with his head, 2-4, probably a more accurate reflection of the game, a fair result, no problem. Then inexplicably the referee started to play a unbelievable amount of injury time (somewhere between 6-10 depending on who's watch you believe!) Tonbridge started to get corner after corner, and from one of these Gayle scored (95th minute.)
Tonbridge now attacked incessantly, and appealed for a penalty (not given) then in the 100th minute a freekick was given just outside the City box. Away fans faces drop, we've all seen this before, it's bound to go in. The freekick was fiercely struck, it is heading for the goal, I cannot believe it, how have we managed this, then a green blur and out of nowhere Glyn Garner gets his hand to the ball and pushes it over the bar, the referee immediately blows, and City have their first league win since September 1st.
The City players barely celebrated and trudged off, looking gaunt, while fans slumped thanking the Garner save and the referees whistle, Sean Canham quipped to a question "we like to keep you on your toes" but he also looked drained. However, the side need to take heart from a performance that did have positives (other than the win obviously!) Chris Allen in particular is showing signs of being a very good player. Onwards and upwards, lets bring on Hornchurch, and hopefully a 2-0 regulation win! UTC!
Monday, 15 October 2012
All change (well maybe, probably not...)
Well what a week for the stripes. After the awful home performances against Boreham Wood and then the FA Cup game against Gosport Borough, City travelled to Gosport for the replay on the Tuesday and lost. So a potential money spinning cup run was thrown away as City's terrible recent form continued.
Cue forum melt down (well melt down of sorts, this is Bath City, it is a maximum of 100 or so posters not millions!) and shouts for the managers head, chairwomans head, the whole boards heads and whoever decided to stop making powdered Bovril (that might just be me...) But it appeared as if nothing further was to happen as the days ticked on, and no announcements were made. However, as I was getting ready to leave work on Friday afternoon I find out Adie Britton had stopped being manager of City, moving to be Director of Football Development, with Lee Howells stepping up from Assistant to Manager with Jim Rollo helping out on the coaching side. Couple this with the announcement that top scorer Kurtis Guthrie was to leave the club and it was a hectic week!
For all the awfulness of last season, and the recent run of poor form this, it should not be forgotten how much Adie has done in his time at City. The club rose two leagues from the Southern League to the Conference National, beat Grimsby away, and generally has been an all round lovely, knowledgeable, intelligent man who has answered questions openly and honestly. Hopefully he will continue to be an asset to the club from his new position.
Onto the game, on national non league day, the stripes were playing Hayes and Yeading United who were relegated with City last season. With Guthrie having left, and Griffin being injured Sean Canham started up front on his own, Harry Hooman (on loan from Cheltenham Town) made his debut at centre back, and for reasons unknown to me, or frankly anyone, Gethin Jones started at right full back.
Within 7 minutes the folly of this decision was exposed when Gethin allowed H&Y's number 11 DanWishart acres of space to put a cross into the which was tapped home by Williams. Wishart was to have a superb game, and ran Jones ragged the City stalwart having absolutely no answer to him, and being beaten time and time again.
H&Y continued attacking well, but slightly against the run of play City equalised, Sean Canham nodded the ball back to Connolly, his shot cannoned off the underside of the bar, but didn't cross the line, however, good following up from Chris Allen allowed the midfielder to bundle the ball home.
H&Y definitely had the better of the play in this period, although a well worked move by City showed the football they can be capable of, and Canham will be disappointed with the soft effort he had at the end of it. Morgan was on the end of a fairly reckless tackle at one point in the game, that had a few calling for a red, but I have been informed by people in a better position than me, that it wasn't a red.
H&Y took the lead again with a carbon copy of their first, Wishart went past Gethin like he wasn't there, and delivered a cross which was met by unmarked Anderson who fired home. The stripes really need to get to grips with the defensive side of the game, as we are currently giving away too many soft goals.
However, Bath City responded and equalised before the half was up, when a good cross by Brown was met with a diving header by Sean Canham which smashed into the post and ended up in the net.
During the first half, one lone fan unfurled a banner which read "Britton + Rigby out" whether he had painted this before Adie quit I do not know, however, I assume that was the case! But fair play to him for having the conviction to show his anger at the ground.
The main notes from the second half, Glyn Garner pulled off a superb save when a powerfully struck freekick curved massively after Garner had shifted his weight, nevertheless Garner managed to get a hand to the ball and push it over the bar. The other main point is that City attacked better in the second half, and for a large swathe of it were the dominate side.
However, all of this is irrelevant when the last 2 minutes are taken into account, a long ball was played towards the City box, Wishart chased the ball, but was met with a perfectly timed tackle by Hooman (it was perfectly timed, I saw Palmers video footage) but incredibly the referee pointed to the spot. The inevitable happened and the penalty was converted, meaning City lost a game that the least they deserved was a draw. Upon the final whistle H&Y's number 4 celebrated like he had won the World Cup, that I think Josh Low noted as he had words with the player, while some fans had a few words for him as well.
So another loss for the stripes, but they did look like scoring, which is better than recent weeks, but my God Charlie Griffin needs to get fit soon and a morale boosting win is desperately, desperately needed.
Cue forum melt down (well melt down of sorts, this is Bath City, it is a maximum of 100 or so posters not millions!) and shouts for the managers head, chairwomans head, the whole boards heads and whoever decided to stop making powdered Bovril (that might just be me...) But it appeared as if nothing further was to happen as the days ticked on, and no announcements were made. However, as I was getting ready to leave work on Friday afternoon I find out Adie Britton had stopped being manager of City, moving to be Director of Football Development, with Lee Howells stepping up from Assistant to Manager with Jim Rollo helping out on the coaching side. Couple this with the announcement that top scorer Kurtis Guthrie was to leave the club and it was a hectic week!
For all the awfulness of last season, and the recent run of poor form this, it should not be forgotten how much Adie has done in his time at City. The club rose two leagues from the Southern League to the Conference National, beat Grimsby away, and generally has been an all round lovely, knowledgeable, intelligent man who has answered questions openly and honestly. Hopefully he will continue to be an asset to the club from his new position.
Onto the game, on national non league day, the stripes were playing Hayes and Yeading United who were relegated with City last season. With Guthrie having left, and Griffin being injured Sean Canham started up front on his own, Harry Hooman (on loan from Cheltenham Town) made his debut at centre back, and for reasons unknown to me, or frankly anyone, Gethin Jones started at right full back.
Within 7 minutes the folly of this decision was exposed when Gethin allowed H&Y's number 11 DanWishart acres of space to put a cross into the which was tapped home by Williams. Wishart was to have a superb game, and ran Jones ragged the City stalwart having absolutely no answer to him, and being beaten time and time again.
H&Y continued attacking well, but slightly against the run of play City equalised, Sean Canham nodded the ball back to Connolly, his shot cannoned off the underside of the bar, but didn't cross the line, however, good following up from Chris Allen allowed the midfielder to bundle the ball home.
H&Y definitely had the better of the play in this period, although a well worked move by City showed the football they can be capable of, and Canham will be disappointed with the soft effort he had at the end of it. Morgan was on the end of a fairly reckless tackle at one point in the game, that had a few calling for a red, but I have been informed by people in a better position than me, that it wasn't a red.
H&Y took the lead again with a carbon copy of their first, Wishart went past Gethin like he wasn't there, and delivered a cross which was met by unmarked Anderson who fired home. The stripes really need to get to grips with the defensive side of the game, as we are currently giving away too many soft goals.
However, Bath City responded and equalised before the half was up, when a good cross by Brown was met with a diving header by Sean Canham which smashed into the post and ended up in the net.
During the first half, one lone fan unfurled a banner which read "Britton + Rigby out" whether he had painted this before Adie quit I do not know, however, I assume that was the case! But fair play to him for having the conviction to show his anger at the ground.
The main notes from the second half, Glyn Garner pulled off a superb save when a powerfully struck freekick curved massively after Garner had shifted his weight, nevertheless Garner managed to get a hand to the ball and push it over the bar. The other main point is that City attacked better in the second half, and for a large swathe of it were the dominate side.
However, all of this is irrelevant when the last 2 minutes are taken into account, a long ball was played towards the City box, Wishart chased the ball, but was met with a perfectly timed tackle by Hooman (it was perfectly timed, I saw Palmers video footage) but incredibly the referee pointed to the spot. The inevitable happened and the penalty was converted, meaning City lost a game that the least they deserved was a draw. Upon the final whistle H&Y's number 4 celebrated like he had won the World Cup, that I think Josh Low noted as he had words with the player, while some fans had a few words for him as well.
So another loss for the stripes, but they did look like scoring, which is better than recent weeks, but my God Charlie Griffin needs to get fit soon and a morale boosting win is desperately, desperately needed.
Sunday, 7 October 2012
The luckiest team left in the FA Cup
I signed off the last blog by saying I hoped the next game I saw was of much higher quality than the Boreham Wood game. City have played and lost away at (surely doomed) Truro City, since and lined up against Southern League Gosport Borough in the 3rd Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.
Gosport are 15th in the Southern League, so are not exactly a confidence team, sadly neither are the stripes. Sean Canham has surprisingly returned to City, although as he is a very similar player to Guthrie it is interesting to see how he will be utilised, however, if we keep Canham, Guthrie and Griffin then we have a decent set of strikers. Sean Canham started the match up front with Guthrie, and Marc Canham also made a rare start this season. However, a midfield of Morgan, Canham, Keats and Connolly was always going to play with no width on the right, with Jim Rollo lining up at right back there were acres of space on the right which were never going to be exploited.
Much like last week though, the game was of awful quality. Once again City lacked invention and creativity, and there is an argument to say that the money used on Canham (S) should have been used on the midfield as Connolly and Marc Canham have been dire for the last 12 months and something needs to be changed in the engine room.
The crowd was as flat as any I can remember, there was barely a murmur around the grand old ground as everyone seems resigned to the fact that City are lacking in confidence at the moment and that nothing will change this. Throughout the game you can hear the low groan of disappointment as yet another chance to attack is squandered or a misplaced pass misses its intended target.
The stripes had a few chances, and Sean Canham brought out a good save from the frustrating Nathan Ashmore who started time wasting from something like the 5th minute. Guthrie and Morgan linked up in bursts, and did led to having a shot cleared off of the line.
Gosport didn't really fashion a chance until the second half, when a corner was met with a powerful header by Daniel Woodward, fortuitously the header was straight at Garner as if it hadn't been at the Welsh wonder the stripes would surely have gone behind.
Soon after that chance two substitutions were made, Luke Cummings came on for Keats and provided some much needed pace, width and directness down the right hand side, and Griffin came on for the completely ineffectual (some might say lazy) Sean Canham, and within minutes had contributed more that Sean had in his 64 minutes.
The two substitutes invigorated the City side, Cummings was eager to burst forward down the wing, and provided some good crosses and was always looking to receive the ball, while Charlie Griffin provided some much needed moments of pure class and ability, and needs to be used in every game with a rotation policy between Guthrie and Canham.
However, to blot his copybook Cummings tried a backheel in the City half, which fell to a Gosport player, this led to the ball being fed wide, before being whipped into the box Wooden met the ball and City were 1 down with twelve minutes remaining. I thought at this point I was watching a carbon copy of the Aylesbury game that was John Relish's last game, and if we had lost this game I honestly believe Adie would have walked.
Somehow though, City were awarded the most dubious penalty possible, Cummings was desperately trying to atone for his error, and fired a low cross into the box, a Gosport defender led with his chest, at most it connected with the top of his arm/shoulder but the referee pointed to the spot despite the vehement protests. Charlie Griffin stepped up and fired the penalty home.
City almost snatched the victory with a Guthrie chance hitting a post and Griffin narrowly heading wide, however, to say it would have been undeserved would be a massive understatement, the game finished 1-1 and the two sides will reconvene at Gosport's Privett Park on Tuesday for the replay. City stayed in the cup via a debateable penalty, and the least inspiring cup run ever somehow limps on.
Gosport are 15th in the Southern League, so are not exactly a confidence team, sadly neither are the stripes. Sean Canham has surprisingly returned to City, although as he is a very similar player to Guthrie it is interesting to see how he will be utilised, however, if we keep Canham, Guthrie and Griffin then we have a decent set of strikers. Sean Canham started the match up front with Guthrie, and Marc Canham also made a rare start this season. However, a midfield of Morgan, Canham, Keats and Connolly was always going to play with no width on the right, with Jim Rollo lining up at right back there were acres of space on the right which were never going to be exploited.
Much like last week though, the game was of awful quality. Once again City lacked invention and creativity, and there is an argument to say that the money used on Canham (S) should have been used on the midfield as Connolly and Marc Canham have been dire for the last 12 months and something needs to be changed in the engine room.
The crowd was as flat as any I can remember, there was barely a murmur around the grand old ground as everyone seems resigned to the fact that City are lacking in confidence at the moment and that nothing will change this. Throughout the game you can hear the low groan of disappointment as yet another chance to attack is squandered or a misplaced pass misses its intended target.
The stripes had a few chances, and Sean Canham brought out a good save from the frustrating Nathan Ashmore who started time wasting from something like the 5th minute. Guthrie and Morgan linked up in bursts, and did led to having a shot cleared off of the line.
Gosport didn't really fashion a chance until the second half, when a corner was met with a powerful header by Daniel Woodward, fortuitously the header was straight at Garner as if it hadn't been at the Welsh wonder the stripes would surely have gone behind.
Soon after that chance two substitutions were made, Luke Cummings came on for Keats and provided some much needed pace, width and directness down the right hand side, and Griffin came on for the completely ineffectual (some might say lazy) Sean Canham, and within minutes had contributed more that Sean had in his 64 minutes.
The two substitutes invigorated the City side, Cummings was eager to burst forward down the wing, and provided some good crosses and was always looking to receive the ball, while Charlie Griffin provided some much needed moments of pure class and ability, and needs to be used in every game with a rotation policy between Guthrie and Canham.
However, to blot his copybook Cummings tried a backheel in the City half, which fell to a Gosport player, this led to the ball being fed wide, before being whipped into the box Wooden met the ball and City were 1 down with twelve minutes remaining. I thought at this point I was watching a carbon copy of the Aylesbury game that was John Relish's last game, and if we had lost this game I honestly believe Adie would have walked.
Somehow though, City were awarded the most dubious penalty possible, Cummings was desperately trying to atone for his error, and fired a low cross into the box, a Gosport defender led with his chest, at most it connected with the top of his arm/shoulder but the referee pointed to the spot despite the vehement protests. Charlie Griffin stepped up and fired the penalty home.
City almost snatched the victory with a Guthrie chance hitting a post and Griffin narrowly heading wide, however, to say it would have been undeserved would be a massive understatement, the game finished 1-1 and the two sides will reconvene at Gosport's Privett Park on Tuesday for the replay. City stayed in the cup via a debateable penalty, and the least inspiring cup run ever somehow limps on.
Monday, 1 October 2012
Boring Wood
To quote Danny Blanchflower "It is football's power to so readily and regularly corrupt emotions and senses that is the addictive and enduring appeal of the game" and on many occasions this is true, the buzz of a last minute winner (or two goals in 4 minutes to snatch a draw against Darlo for example) can leave you floating out of a ground buzzing with adrenaline and excitement at what you have just seen, however, sometimes football shafts you and makes you watch a game that is so devoid of entertainment that you find yourself praying for the final whistle.
Sadly, the game against Boreham Wood was one such game, other than being the topic of a fairly amusing terrace chant of last season (we're all going on a train to Boreham Wood) there is little to say of note about Boreham Wood, and they are just another of the South East teams we will have to face this season, and it was with this lack of excitement that an expectedly low crowd of 508 turned up.
City's seemingly never ending injury list continues, with Josh Low and Joe Burnell injured and the news that Sekani Simpsons knee injury collected at Salisbury was to keep him out until the new year at the earliest. So Luke Cummings continued deputising at rightback/wingback and a midfield three of Connolly, Keats and Allen provided little width, if some nice passing ability.
Within the first minute Guthrie was fouled on the very edge of the area, some say in the area, and a freekick was awarded, sadly it wasn't in the box as and early goal may have completely changed the tone of the game. As it was the freekick led to nothing and an early chance passed.
Guthrie then had the best chance of the game, when his powerful downward header from an Aaron Brown corner was cleared off the line by a desperate hack from the Boreham Wood defender.
The Boreham Wood keeper was looking nervy and pretty useless, but sadly City weren't able to capitalise on this and should have really put the custodian under greater pressure. A few chances came and went, but none seemed clear cut and nailed on chances.
The second half was more tedious than the first, and the only thing of note was a booking for Jimmer when he committed two fouls in quick succession to prevent the breakaway, a lusty rendition of "We love Jim Rollo" was sung in anticipation of the guaranteed red card, miraculously it was only a yellow, but the sad state of affairs is that a foul is my most vivid memory of the second half.
The game finished 0-0 the first stalemate since Luton Town visited in January 2011. While the performance wasn't great, it wasn't worth the handwringing and panic the draw has brought about, but God I hope the next game I see the men in black and white play is much more attacking and exciting.
Sadly, the game against Boreham Wood was one such game, other than being the topic of a fairly amusing terrace chant of last season (we're all going on a train to Boreham Wood) there is little to say of note about Boreham Wood, and they are just another of the South East teams we will have to face this season, and it was with this lack of excitement that an expectedly low crowd of 508 turned up.
City's seemingly never ending injury list continues, with Josh Low and Joe Burnell injured and the news that Sekani Simpsons knee injury collected at Salisbury was to keep him out until the new year at the earliest. So Luke Cummings continued deputising at rightback/wingback and a midfield three of Connolly, Keats and Allen provided little width, if some nice passing ability.
Within the first minute Guthrie was fouled on the very edge of the area, some say in the area, and a freekick was awarded, sadly it wasn't in the box as and early goal may have completely changed the tone of the game. As it was the freekick led to nothing and an early chance passed.
Guthrie then had the best chance of the game, when his powerful downward header from an Aaron Brown corner was cleared off the line by a desperate hack from the Boreham Wood defender.
The Boreham Wood keeper was looking nervy and pretty useless, but sadly City weren't able to capitalise on this and should have really put the custodian under greater pressure. A few chances came and went, but none seemed clear cut and nailed on chances.
The second half was more tedious than the first, and the only thing of note was a booking for Jimmer when he committed two fouls in quick succession to prevent the breakaway, a lusty rendition of "We love Jim Rollo" was sung in anticipation of the guaranteed red card, miraculously it was only a yellow, but the sad state of affairs is that a foul is my most vivid memory of the second half.
The game finished 0-0 the first stalemate since Luton Town visited in January 2011. While the performance wasn't great, it wasn't worth the handwringing and panic the draw has brought about, but God I hope the next game I see the men in black and white play is much more attacking and exciting.
Sunday, 23 September 2012
A curse is lifted, and cider is drunk (my God a lot of cider was drunk!)
With City dropping out of the Conference National last season, it now means that the stripes enter the FA Cup two rounds earlier than last year, entering the venerable competition at the Second Qualifying Round.
The draw had paired the stripes with Buckland Athletic of the Western League Premier Division, and we were to visit there ground on the outskirts of Newton Abbot, Homers Heath. Buckland play in yellow and won the South West Peninsula League last year to get into the Western Football League. Four of us were travelling on the train, so as has been the usual this season, we met up at an early time, got our group 4 saver and set off. The journey was uneventful, and was a direct train, which was nice. However, the train was packed so we stood the whole way and enjoyed the scenery as we travelled along Dawlish Warren and marvelled at the engineering done by IKB to place his railway on edge of the sea.
We arrived into Newton Abbot at 10:38 and wandered around what is a much nicer town than I had expected. The town has a population of 23k and seems to have a nice independent air to it, with a fine array of independent shops, and a model shop which Bath itself can no longer boast of having.
Now if you ever find yourself in Newton Abbot head towards East Street, the street has 8 (eight) pubs along its length and one very important house (more on that later...) the four stripes headed to the beer guide recommended Union Inn, and sat down to a very reasonable and very welcome English breakfast. We left the Union and headed up East Street to the Dartmouth Inn, at this point the away day started to grow into its own.
The Dartmouth is a lovely little traditional boozer, and the array of stripey clothing we were wearing started to attract attention. No-one in the pub had heard of the FA Cup game taking place, so the barmaid rang her son who rearranged his plans to go to the game and she was working out ways she could get there, who says the magic of the cup is dead? A few enjoyable Dartmoor ales were sunk, and two more stripes joined us as we walked to that important house I mentioned.
We walked towards the building and saw the name picked out on the side "Ye Olde Cider Bar" that's right, the important house is a cider house, one of only four left in the country. What's a cider house I hear you cry, surely it is just a pub? Well no. A pub sells an array of alcoholic beverages, while a cider house sells only cider (and perry and country wines) The place is amazing, all hard wood tables, cladding and masses of cider barrels. After the disappointments of Dorchester and Salisbury the three establishments of this trip were amazing, but the cider house was the best. Many ciders were sunk before we walked to Homers Heath.
The ground is a slightly odd, but lovely little ground, you enter up a steep slope, and pay the entrance fee to a few people by a table (no turnstiles) and walk towards the pitch. There is a large clubhouse with a beer garden type set up, and on the opposite side to the pitch is a large stand, with seating and terracing, a tidy set up and one which must be the envy of many of their Western League competitors.
We went behind the goal City were attacking, and an attempt at hanging flags was made, it took so long for the largest to be hung on the netting, that a steward wandered over, and then laughed at the incompetence and gave up on his original plan of telling Tim to get off of Palmers shoulders.
Buckland belied their lowly league status, and were a very impressive side. City were finding it hard to get a foothold in the game, and Garner had to pull off an impressive save to prevent Buckland taking an early lead.
However, the early storm weathered, the stripes began to fashion chances of their own, a Aaron Brown effort was cleared off the line, and the same player had a freekick saved moments later. Charlie Griffin hit the post when through on goal, and you felt that if City had managed to score at this stage the game would have been easier.
At half time, we went into the excellent clubhouse, and in a first, I won second place in the 50/50 draw and collected an unexpected but gratefully received £20. I started the second half standing on a table in the beer garden area (Buckland fans did it first I'd like to point out!) while finishing my pint. It was from this vantage point, that I saw the first two goals of the game. Buckland took the lead when a freekick wasn't fully cleared and it fell to Gavin Hammon who already has 9 league goals this season, and he added to his tally by firing past Garner.
The goal stopped City in their tracks, and there was a period of the game where the men in black and white couldn't get anywhere or create anything. However, on 59 minutes the ball was fed to Aaron Brown on the left, the fullback took the ball forward before unleashing a hammer blow of a shot which squirmed into the net despite the keepers best efforts.
At this point I moved from my unusual vantage point, to behind the goal again. City's goal led to a sustained period of pressure, and from this point it seemed certain City would score again. This happened on 71 minutes, when Cummings crossed from the right, and Guthrie leapt high to powerfully placed his header into the opposite corner. The game was to finish 2-1 to City, but Buckland did themselves proud and if they played like that it will not be long until they are promoted again. With City winning away, this has finally broken the curse of me not seeing City win away since Barrow in March 2011 (happy days!)
We left the ground, and fatally returned to the cider house, many free tasters were dished out by a friendly barmaid, mead was drunk (who drinks mead!?!?) and the night started to get fuzzy around the edges. We eventually made it back to the station, where I unfortunately had a disco nap, the train was delayed by an hour, and due to stupidity I lost my glasses and Tim hurt himself! We survived though, and Buckland will go down as one of the best away days ever, now to see who comes out of the hat in the draw for the next round.
The draw had paired the stripes with Buckland Athletic of the Western League Premier Division, and we were to visit there ground on the outskirts of Newton Abbot, Homers Heath. Buckland play in yellow and won the South West Peninsula League last year to get into the Western Football League. Four of us were travelling on the train, so as has been the usual this season, we met up at an early time, got our group 4 saver and set off. The journey was uneventful, and was a direct train, which was nice. However, the train was packed so we stood the whole way and enjoyed the scenery as we travelled along Dawlish Warren and marvelled at the engineering done by IKB to place his railway on edge of the sea.
We arrived into Newton Abbot at 10:38 and wandered around what is a much nicer town than I had expected. The town has a population of 23k and seems to have a nice independent air to it, with a fine array of independent shops, and a model shop which Bath itself can no longer boast of having.
 |
| City boys by Ye Olde Cider Bar |
 |
| Look at the cider! |
 |
| Big smiles of happy cider drinkers |
 |
| The offending flag |
Buckland belied their lowly league status, and were a very impressive side. City were finding it hard to get a foothold in the game, and Garner had to pull off an impressive save to prevent Buckland taking an early lead.
At this point I moved from my unusual vantage point, to behind the goal again. City's goal led to a sustained period of pressure, and from this point it seemed certain City would score again. This happened on 71 minutes, when Cummings crossed from the right, and Guthrie leapt high to powerfully placed his header into the opposite corner. The game was to finish 2-1 to City, but Buckland did themselves proud and if they played like that it will not be long until they are promoted again. With City winning away, this has finally broken the curse of me not seeing City win away since Barrow in March 2011 (happy days!)
We left the ground, and fatally returned to the cider house, many free tasters were dished out by a friendly barmaid, mead was drunk (who drinks mead!?!?) and the night started to get fuzzy around the edges. We eventually made it back to the station, where I unfortunately had a disco nap, the train was delayed by an hour, and due to stupidity I lost my glasses and Tim hurt himself! We survived though, and Buckland will go down as one of the best away days ever, now to see who comes out of the hat in the draw for the next round.
Monday, 17 September 2012
A jolt of reality
After finding themselves top of the table after the opening few games of the season, the mighty stripes have definitely come crashing back to earth in the last few weeks.
Having at the end of my last blog predicted that City would inevitably win at Bromley away with me being unable to go to the game having been in Barcelona, however, on arrival back at Bristol airport I texted mate and fellow City fan Palmer asking how it went and got the following "Lost 1-0. Were utter dog shit, to a man" so felt much better that I didn't end up at Bromley, and arrived back at Twerton Park with City on a two game losing streak and about to host high spending Dover Athletic, who as is customary this season had a ex-player in their ranks, this time Danny Webb, centre back in the season we finished 10th after promotion to the Conference National.
The opening to the game, was low on quality and low in tempo. A few chances were created, but all in all it was a pretty poor first half. Garner patted one shot down, that I dangerously thought was being patted into the onrushing forwards path, but Glyn has been pretty good this season, and the threat was nullified.
A Dover goal was disallowed for a clear offside, but that is about all.
Kerry Morgan replaced Josh Low at halftime, I assumed with an injury as late in the first half we saw him doing a leg stretch I had previously seen him do moments before last going off injured. Morgan definitely offered an increase in tempo and threat, and if he is fully fit he should definitely be starting every game, as he has looked a class above at every opportunity when played out wide, but horrifically stunted when playing as a second "deep lying" forward (tactical discussion done for a while I think!)
On 50 minutes, Morgan fed the ball to Griffin, who took a touch to tee it up for himself before thrashing a volley that the keeper flapped at, the ball rebounded off of the crossbar, and fell to Noah Keats, his shot was blocked but fell to Griffin who hammered the ball first time into the top corner, both of Griffin's efforts were of the highest quality and definitely deserved a goal from one of the chances.
Briefly City threatened, and could have scored another while Dover were regrouping, Chris Allen came on for a debut, and looked a tidy little player (emphasis on little) and a jinking run, and cute pass found a sadly offside Guthrie who scored, but the flag was raised (correctly) as soon as he touched the ball. However, by that point the game was already level, with Dover scoring on 65 minutes, and that was the last chance the stripes really fashioned. Dover took the lead on 71 minutes, when a freekick was deflected into the path of Dover captain Steve Thompson who rounded Garner with a coolness rarely seen at this level before slotting the ball home.
A Dover player was sent off late on for a second booking for dissent, but City were never going to score despite the 4 minutes of added time. Sadly, City's 100% home record died, and a third game on the trot was lost, pushing City down to eleventh in the table, too early in the season to really worry about, but bringing us back to earth with a bump. Adie Britton faces a task to ensure the players are ready and able to beat Buckland Athletic in the FA Cup on Saturday, with the trip to Devon and the Western League team being a potential banana skin if the team is not fully focused.
Having at the end of my last blog predicted that City would inevitably win at Bromley away with me being unable to go to the game having been in Barcelona, however, on arrival back at Bristol airport I texted mate and fellow City fan Palmer asking how it went and got the following "Lost 1-0. Were utter dog shit, to a man" so felt much better that I didn't end up at Bromley, and arrived back at Twerton Park with City on a two game losing streak and about to host high spending Dover Athletic, who as is customary this season had a ex-player in their ranks, this time Danny Webb, centre back in the season we finished 10th after promotion to the Conference National.
The opening to the game, was low on quality and low in tempo. A few chances were created, but all in all it was a pretty poor first half. Garner patted one shot down, that I dangerously thought was being patted into the onrushing forwards path, but Glyn has been pretty good this season, and the threat was nullified.
A Dover goal was disallowed for a clear offside, but that is about all.
Kerry Morgan replaced Josh Low at halftime, I assumed with an injury as late in the first half we saw him doing a leg stretch I had previously seen him do moments before last going off injured. Morgan definitely offered an increase in tempo and threat, and if he is fully fit he should definitely be starting every game, as he has looked a class above at every opportunity when played out wide, but horrifically stunted when playing as a second "deep lying" forward (tactical discussion done for a while I think!)
On 50 minutes, Morgan fed the ball to Griffin, who took a touch to tee it up for himself before thrashing a volley that the keeper flapped at, the ball rebounded off of the crossbar, and fell to Noah Keats, his shot was blocked but fell to Griffin who hammered the ball first time into the top corner, both of Griffin's efforts were of the highest quality and definitely deserved a goal from one of the chances.
Briefly City threatened, and could have scored another while Dover were regrouping, Chris Allen came on for a debut, and looked a tidy little player (emphasis on little) and a jinking run, and cute pass found a sadly offside Guthrie who scored, but the flag was raised (correctly) as soon as he touched the ball. However, by that point the game was already level, with Dover scoring on 65 minutes, and that was the last chance the stripes really fashioned. Dover took the lead on 71 minutes, when a freekick was deflected into the path of Dover captain Steve Thompson who rounded Garner with a coolness rarely seen at this level before slotting the ball home.
A Dover player was sent off late on for a second booking for dissent, but City were never going to score despite the 4 minutes of added time. Sadly, City's 100% home record died, and a third game on the trot was lost, pushing City down to eleventh in the table, too early in the season to really worry about, but bringing us back to earth with a bump. Adie Britton faces a task to ensure the players are ready and able to beat Buckland Athletic in the FA Cup on Saturday, with the trip to Devon and the Western League team being a potential banana skin if the team is not fully focused.
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
A tale of two keepers...
Tuesday night games are an interesting one. If played at home they can be a brilliant distraction from the working week, and for some reason quite often seem to generate an atmosphere that is lacking from weekend games, however, Tuesday night away games aren't quite as good. The main issues being the lack of time to get where you are heading and then late return. Sadly, City were only allocated one Tuesday night game at home (Maidenhead a few weeks ago) and have trips to Truro, Eastleigh, Eastbourne and last nights trip to Salisbury City.
I was to drive to The Raymond McEnhill Stadium (awful, awful name!) and was taking a full car. While collecting my first passenger from the University, a moment happened that should inspire all football fans. After collecting Palms, we started to leave the Uni, and a squirrel ran out in front of the car in front of us, surely the end for Nutty you would think, but no despite being span around inside the wheel, he landed on the road and ran into the bushes, a miraculous escape and proof that anything is possible!
In the Dorchester blog I wrote that I hoped I had found the worst pub of the season, sadly I was wrong! Salisbury's ground was a new build in 1997 and therefore is positioned in a awful position well out of Salisbury itself, and with no decent pubs around. I accept that one day City might need to leave Twerton, but if we do I hope that the move would be to somewhere central and decent rather than the God forsaken middle of nowhere. With that in mind we ended up in a Harvester, with keg bitter. Awful. That is two in two for horrible pubs, so I am hoping the next away pub I get to is much better and more like The Harp!
The Raymond McEnhill Stadium is pretty poor, one end has three steps and the most unnecessary electronic scoreboard/advertising hoarding ever, a small covered terrace and two mismatched weird sides. We arrived just before kick off, and there was a sizeable travelling contingent. A minutes silence was observed by everyone apart from one City fan who was too self important and wouldn't hang up on a most important phone call (about cement, it was shameful, but I won't name names.)
The main surprise was that Glyn Garner had been dropped and young Jason Mellor was handed an unexpected debut in goal. In the opposite goal was Will Puddy who played a few games for the stripes on loan in 2009/10.
Salisbury raced into an early league, when Chris McPhee (who City tried to sign in the summer) crossed and the unmarked White knocked the ball home from a few yards after 6 minutes of play. This seemed to spark City into live, but sadly led to Simpson being clattered by a fairly robust challenge (I say robust it was a clear foul) but despite the tackle no booking was issued, but Simpson had clearly hurt his knee and was withdrawn and replaced by Luke Cummings. Cummings in his first appearance soon influenced proceedings when he fed in a cross that was begging to be finished and Griffin obliged and bundled the ball home.
Mellor was having a decent debut, until around the 38th minute when a long looping ball was played forward, the young custodian seemed caught in two minds as to whether come out and clear the ball or stay on his line. Stuffed by his indecision, he failed to make contact well with the ball, it bounced behind him, and in the ensuing panic Gethin Jones threw himself head first at a shot at goal, but it clearly hit his hand and the penalty was awarded, and then dispatched by Fitchett. City picked up another injury, and Burnell came off to be replaced by Morgan, after a bit more play, the first half finished 2-1.
We swapped ends as is customary, and had the interesting situation of trying to put flags up where there is nothing to tie them to. Thankfully, Salisbury hire one of the nicest set of stewards (including the nicest steward I have ever met!) and one of them told me to bend back wiring to tie the flag, so I did! Then came the bit everyone is terrified of, the moment a mate suggests giving you a leg up, so perched precariously in Palmers hands I managed to get the flags up, but the fear of being dropped with a slight inebriated pal holding you aloft, is like no other!
For the second away game in a row and ex-goalkeeper started to rile the away following, Puddy who was fairly ropey under his time with us, hasn't improved in the intervening years. But he is a mouthy so and so. One particularly amusing moment had him punching the ball on the ground after having an argument with the ref, what a tit.
Salisbury increased their lead in the 57 minute with an absolutely fantastic goal, a ball in the air found its way to Ryan Brett, the player controlled the ball on his chest, flicked the ball over his head and hammered and unstoppable shot past Mellor, there was nothing the keeper could do about the strike and he had pulled off some great saves before hand.
Puddy got unbelievably lucky when a Griffin free kick went into his arms, but somehow he spilled the ball and panicked, but fortuitously for him it managed to hit his heel and stop instead of rolling into the goal, at which point he kept looking at the ground, as though a blade of grass had made him drop the ball!
City pressed hard in the last 20 minutes, and young Noah Keats (who had started and played well) was fed the ball by Morgan 25 yards from goal, and the young midfielder thrashed a ferocious shot past Puddy. 3-2 and City had their tails up.
Puddy once again began to wind up some of the away fans and was getting some abuse, as was the aforementioned electronic scoreboard, which kept changing colours and flashing behind us, the stewards also agreed how crap it was and were complaining about it as much as we were. A word of warning never take an epileptic to Salisbury City!
In the last minute of injury time, a Kerry Morgan corner put Puddy under pressure, and the keeper spilt it, this led to Morgan firing in a follow up shot, which was parried to Guthrie who couldn't score despite having two chances which were both cleared off of the line. Suddenly Salisbury were on the counter and they should have scored, but the unmarked player screwed the ball wide. The game finished soon after. A 3-2 loss was a fair result, but on the way out the tannoy announcer commended the City fans on "being the best away support we have seen down here in many a year" Now he may say that to every away fan, but I'd like to think it was a valid endorsement of the stripes faithful.
With the loss at Salisbury, I have now travelled approximately 3,096 miles (according to google maps) since last seeing City win away, which was Barrow on 26th March 2011 when a Lee Phillips goal won the game. City are away at Bromley on Saturday when I am on holiday, so I predict an away win! Up the City!
P.S. Since writing the blog someone has helpfully uploaded the attached video, Salisbury's third goal is even better than I realised.
I was to drive to The Raymond McEnhill Stadium (awful, awful name!) and was taking a full car. While collecting my first passenger from the University, a moment happened that should inspire all football fans. After collecting Palms, we started to leave the Uni, and a squirrel ran out in front of the car in front of us, surely the end for Nutty you would think, but no despite being span around inside the wheel, he landed on the road and ran into the bushes, a miraculous escape and proof that anything is possible!
In the Dorchester blog I wrote that I hoped I had found the worst pub of the season, sadly I was wrong! Salisbury's ground was a new build in 1997 and therefore is positioned in a awful position well out of Salisbury itself, and with no decent pubs around. I accept that one day City might need to leave Twerton, but if we do I hope that the move would be to somewhere central and decent rather than the God forsaken middle of nowhere. With that in mind we ended up in a Harvester, with keg bitter. Awful. That is two in two for horrible pubs, so I am hoping the next away pub I get to is much better and more like The Harp!
 |
| Horribly positioned ground in the middle of nowhere |
The Raymond McEnhill Stadium is pretty poor, one end has three steps and the most unnecessary electronic scoreboard/advertising hoarding ever, a small covered terrace and two mismatched weird sides. We arrived just before kick off, and there was a sizeable travelling contingent. A minutes silence was observed by everyone apart from one City fan who was too self important and wouldn't hang up on a most important phone call (about cement, it was shameful, but I won't name names.)
The main surprise was that Glyn Garner had been dropped and young Jason Mellor was handed an unexpected debut in goal. In the opposite goal was Will Puddy who played a few games for the stripes on loan in 2009/10.
Mellor was having a decent debut, until around the 38th minute when a long looping ball was played forward, the young custodian seemed caught in two minds as to whether come out and clear the ball or stay on his line. Stuffed by his indecision, he failed to make contact well with the ball, it bounced behind him, and in the ensuing panic Gethin Jones threw himself head first at a shot at goal, but it clearly hit his hand and the penalty was awarded, and then dispatched by Fitchett. City picked up another injury, and Burnell came off to be replaced by Morgan, after a bit more play, the first half finished 2-1.
We swapped ends as is customary, and had the interesting situation of trying to put flags up where there is nothing to tie them to. Thankfully, Salisbury hire one of the nicest set of stewards (including the nicest steward I have ever met!) and one of them told me to bend back wiring to tie the flag, so I did! Then came the bit everyone is terrified of, the moment a mate suggests giving you a leg up, so perched precariously in Palmers hands I managed to get the flags up, but the fear of being dropped with a slight inebriated pal holding you aloft, is like no other!
 |
| Nicest steward ever, just look at his face! Look at his face! |
Salisbury increased their lead in the 57 minute with an absolutely fantastic goal, a ball in the air found its way to Ryan Brett, the player controlled the ball on his chest, flicked the ball over his head and hammered and unstoppable shot past Mellor, there was nothing the keeper could do about the strike and he had pulled off some great saves before hand.
Puddy got unbelievably lucky when a Griffin free kick went into his arms, but somehow he spilled the ball and panicked, but fortuitously for him it managed to hit his heel and stop instead of rolling into the goal, at which point he kept looking at the ground, as though a blade of grass had made him drop the ball!
City pressed hard in the last 20 minutes, and young Noah Keats (who had started and played well) was fed the ball by Morgan 25 yards from goal, and the young midfielder thrashed a ferocious shot past Puddy. 3-2 and City had their tails up.
Puddy once again began to wind up some of the away fans and was getting some abuse, as was the aforementioned electronic scoreboard, which kept changing colours and flashing behind us, the stewards also agreed how crap it was and were complaining about it as much as we were. A word of warning never take an epileptic to Salisbury City!
 |
| Note ridiculous scoreboard at far end |
In the last minute of injury time, a Kerry Morgan corner put Puddy under pressure, and the keeper spilt it, this led to Morgan firing in a follow up shot, which was parried to Guthrie who couldn't score despite having two chances which were both cleared off of the line. Suddenly Salisbury were on the counter and they should have scored, but the unmarked player screwed the ball wide. The game finished soon after. A 3-2 loss was a fair result, but on the way out the tannoy announcer commended the City fans on "being the best away support we have seen down here in many a year" Now he may say that to every away fan, but I'd like to think it was a valid endorsement of the stripes faithful.
With the loss at Salisbury, I have now travelled approximately 3,096 miles (according to google maps) since last seeing City win away, which was Barrow on 26th March 2011 when a Lee Phillips goal won the game. City are away at Bromley on Saturday when I am on holiday, so I predict an away win! Up the City!
P.S. Since writing the blog someone has helpfully uploaded the attached video, Salisbury's third goal is even better than I realised.
Sunday, 2 September 2012
Billericay Town (All Essex stereotypes will be avoided, I hope!)
At the risk of this blog turning into a weather related blog (when skies are grey perhaps?!) it was a pleasant surprise to be sitting outside supping our prematch beers rather than huddled inside watching torrential downpours, and a decent following could reasonably expected.
Billericay Town were promoted to the Conference South as champions of the Ishtmian League and are one of the ridiculous number of south east clubs in this league. They had one of the smallest footballers I have ever seen in their number 7, and as a mate pointed out they looked like a Sunday league team with a kit that seemed to fit none of them and surprisingly they are lacking in a shirt sponsor, but obviously didn't go for the Yeovil approach of posing topless. However, it isn't all bad as they are one of two teams who have won the FA Vase three times.
As we walked around the ground Sekani Simpson embarked on a mazy run that almost led to a goal, which would have been the first the fullback had scored in a long time! Sadly his shot was blocked and the following effort was fired high over the bar.
Griffin was looking lively and Guthrie buzzed around, while Low and Aaron Brown were both threatening. Sadly though Low departed after 15 with an unknown injury and was replaced by young Noah Keats. Guthrie could have scored when a ball was bouncing towards goal, but his delicate chip was saved by the keeper.
Griffin soon showed the youngster how it was done, when in an almost identical situation the wily frontman lifted the ball perfectly over Brightly in the Billericay goal and the ball dropped into the back of the net. Griffin again celebrated with gusto and I hope to see this more and more this season.
The half time whistle sounded with City winning 1-0. A swift pint was drunk in Charlie's, and it is nice to be able to visit the bar at half time if so desired, unlike the Conference Premier and the problems with policing/stewarding/segregation etc leading to the bar more often than not being closed, not such an issue in the summer months (apart from the lost revenue) but in the winter when it is freezing the warmth can sometimes be very welcome!
Aaron Brown had once again shown he is a class above a lot of the players in this league, and had been superb in the left wingback/fullback role, sadly though while bursting forward to catch a pass you could see him pull up, and Brown limped off to be replaced by Kerry Morgan.
City were again playing well, but weren't creating too many chances, and on 58 minutes a cock up between Preece and Garner led to the City custodian felling an onrushing Billericay player and the referee pointed to the spot and booked Garner. Having seen the replay of the incident the tackle was definitely outside of the area, and should have resulted in a freekick, nevertheless Glenn Poole stepped up and fired a brilliant penalty home. Against the run of play and suspiciously like Dorchester, City found themselves level.
However, unlike at Dorchester the men in black and white rallied, Morgan who despite his diminutive stature was tracking back and won a brilliant sliding tackle, this led to a period of play where City moved the ball around nicely, eventually the ball ended up with Charlie Griffin about 25 yards out, the frontman moved the ball forward a few yards, opened his body and curled a wonderful shot into the net, a cracking finish by Griffin and definitely the best goal City have scored this season.
Billericay sensing their chance had gone resorted to kicking and fouling continually, and the referee failed to offer adequate protection for the City players. However, the match passed without further incident and a 2-1 win propelled City to the top of the league again (not that it means anything 5 games in), but the win will have hopefully given everyone the confidence needed for the Tuesday night game away at Salisbury City.
Billericay Town were promoted to the Conference South as champions of the Ishtmian League and are one of the ridiculous number of south east clubs in this league. They had one of the smallest footballers I have ever seen in their number 7, and as a mate pointed out they looked like a Sunday league team with a kit that seemed to fit none of them and surprisingly they are lacking in a shirt sponsor, but obviously didn't go for the Yeovil approach of posing topless. However, it isn't all bad as they are one of two teams who have won the FA Vase three times.
As we walked around the ground Sekani Simpson embarked on a mazy run that almost led to a goal, which would have been the first the fullback had scored in a long time! Sadly his shot was blocked and the following effort was fired high over the bar.
Griffin was looking lively and Guthrie buzzed around, while Low and Aaron Brown were both threatening. Sadly though Low departed after 15 with an unknown injury and was replaced by young Noah Keats. Guthrie could have scored when a ball was bouncing towards goal, but his delicate chip was saved by the keeper.
Griffin soon showed the youngster how it was done, when in an almost identical situation the wily frontman lifted the ball perfectly over Brightly in the Billericay goal and the ball dropped into the back of the net. Griffin again celebrated with gusto and I hope to see this more and more this season.
The half time whistle sounded with City winning 1-0. A swift pint was drunk in Charlie's, and it is nice to be able to visit the bar at half time if so desired, unlike the Conference Premier and the problems with policing/stewarding/segregation etc leading to the bar more often than not being closed, not such an issue in the summer months (apart from the lost revenue) but in the winter when it is freezing the warmth can sometimes be very welcome!
Aaron Brown had once again shown he is a class above a lot of the players in this league, and had been superb in the left wingback/fullback role, sadly though while bursting forward to catch a pass you could see him pull up, and Brown limped off to be replaced by Kerry Morgan.
City were again playing well, but weren't creating too many chances, and on 58 minutes a cock up between Preece and Garner led to the City custodian felling an onrushing Billericay player and the referee pointed to the spot and booked Garner. Having seen the replay of the incident the tackle was definitely outside of the area, and should have resulted in a freekick, nevertheless Glenn Poole stepped up and fired a brilliant penalty home. Against the run of play and suspiciously like Dorchester, City found themselves level.
However, unlike at Dorchester the men in black and white rallied, Morgan who despite his diminutive stature was tracking back and won a brilliant sliding tackle, this led to a period of play where City moved the ball around nicely, eventually the ball ended up with Charlie Griffin about 25 yards out, the frontman moved the ball forward a few yards, opened his body and curled a wonderful shot into the net, a cracking finish by Griffin and definitely the best goal City have scored this season.
Billericay sensing their chance had gone resorted to kicking and fouling continually, and the referee failed to offer adequate protection for the City players. However, the match passed without further incident and a 2-1 win propelled City to the top of the league again (not that it means anything 5 games in), but the win will have hopefully given everyone the confidence needed for the Tuesday night game away at Salisbury City.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)