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.
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