New season, new hopes

After the ins and outs of preseason (including the still disputed leaving of Charlie Griffin and the surprising release of Gethin Jones) a couple of friendlies, and for me at least a game spent watching Exeter vs QPR in the League Cup the proper stuff returned with City being sent to an away opening game for the 5^th year in succession.

The stripes were to play away at Bishop’s Stortford, reinstated to the Conference South, after a two year sojourn in the Conference North, making Stortford the happiest of anyone to see Barrow, Stockport County and Telford relegated from the Conference National last year, making their return to the south an inevitability. Given that they are only 30 minutes north of London it seems a fairly sensible league for them to play in.

Having used the opportunity of the first game to visit my London based mates, we departed from Putney (as has become the norm for me in South East games) to London Liverpool Street and onto Bishop’s Stortford, this is where the first pleasant surprise occurred, compared to the usual awful commuter towns/vast sprawling suburbs of London, this town is actually quite pleasant.

We strolled along a wide, tree lined road, flanked by giant (and presumably expensive) houses, before coming to a junction, opposite which stood the Nag’s Head. Again, imagine my shock when instead of finding the usual boring/ugly/generic pub (see Chelmsford/Welling/Tonbridge etc.) I saw a superb art deco style pub, from the sign to the flourishes in the brick work to the writing on the signs, McMullen’s brewery had perfectly continued the style that the original builders must have aimed for. Bravo.

Having sunk a swift pint, we walked to the ground. This is where the dread takes over for what will happen to City when we inevitably leave Twerton Park. The ground, like most new grounds it seems, is no where near the actual town. Having weaved our way through an industrial estate, past a Travis Perkins, and offices, all of which I clearly want before the football, we got to the ground. A chat to the man on the car park as he asked us the prices of beer in Bath (about the same as Bishop’s Stortford) and we were in the ground.

The ground is a standard enough, newish ground, neither offensive nor particularly impressive, although the chips I had before the game were very good. Bishop’s Stortford contained the expected array of pillocks in their squad, the whole back 5 having a collection of dubious hairstyles and tattoos that seem commonplace in the London based footballer.

The stripes were lining up with 3 debutants in Andy Watkins, David Pratt, Ben Adlesbury, and returning hero Andy Gallinagh. Gallinagh was handed the armband, and City lined up in a 4-4-2 with Aaron Brown occupying the left wing. Another point to be made, is that City were wearing their new kit, without getting too involved in the debate it is far from the nicest kits in recent history, with the stripes being relegated to one panel and the whole back being black prompting moaning from the Stortford management team.

The game began at a hectic pace, with Stortford having a chance within the first minute, that Jason Mellor could only watch sail past his post. While City were also creating some chances of their own. Stortford again had a chance which Mellor could only watch, while Gallinagh had to do some defensive work under his own cross bar to ensure parity.

Nevertheless, the Romans began to get a grip on the game, mainly due to two reasons, firstly the front two of Pratt and Watkins, harassed and harried the backline relentlessly and this forced the Stortford players into many mistakes as they were hurried along, secondly, Bishop’s Stortford seemed to have decided to try and become a shitter version of Barcelona. Time and time again, they passed it around the back, which a) invited Watkins and Pratt to chase, b) contributed to them taking bad touches/misplacing passes and c) was a waste of time, as 9 times out of 10, once the ball reached the midfield it was hammered forward.

The stripes were having multiple opportunities from set pieces, Aaron Brown took a free kick that was hit with power, but straight at the goalkeeper, while from a corner Ben Adlesbury was in acres of space and should have scored with a header. Brown also whipped in a cross that Pratt was millimetres away from connecting with.

Just before halftime though, City’s efforts were rewarded, Sekani Simpson received the ball on the right, before laying it off to Adam Connolly, the midfielder was tackled, but showed great tenacity by winning the ball back before looping the ball into the box, Andy Watkins took a touch to control the ball and give himself half a yard, before unleashing a howitzer which flashed past the keeper and went in off of the underside of the bar.

Soon after halftime City applied the finishing blow, Pratt was unnecessarily bundled over in the corner by the Stortford full back, from the resulting freekick Brown’s low, hard cross was met running away from goal by Pratt who guided his header into the opposite corner, it was a brilliant finish and both new frontmen had scored on debut.

City then dominated the next 20 minutes or so, and chances fell to Keats and Pratt, while a Dan Ball effort was cleared off of the line. Then as is so often the case, a couple of substitutions completely changed the game. The very impressive Watkins and Pratt were removed, with Ross Stearn and Josh Low replacing them. Stearn the winger from Weston-super-Mare, buzzed and hassled and had a few efforts, but Josh Low accomplished nothing.

This is not a criticism of Low, he is clearly not a centre forward, but his lack of contribution meant that suddenly the stripes were on the back foot, and the inevitable goal came from a corner with Kyle Assante’s shot crossing the line, despite the acrobatic efforts of Dan Ball to keep it out.

Then came 5 minutes of torture, as City’s previous composure and dominance melted away, and on a couple of occasions Stortford almost snatched the equaliser, the game finished with Mellor collecting the ball and getting hurt, the whistle blew and the big custodian crumpled to the ground.

All in all, it was a good opening day with for the men in black and white (predominately black, sadly) and the impressive performances by the new front two, with a promising cameo from Stearn gives hope for a good season, but with the visit of high spending Eastleigh on Tuesday night, this could all change quickly! Up the City.