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.
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