| A thousand pounds in the bag and City are on their way to a home game against Team Bath after an easy win at Bristol Manor Farm. |
| On a nice sunny day on the banks of the River Avon, the only change from the disappointing defeat at Mangotsfield was Adam Hemming being replaced by Adie Harris at left wing back. On the bench, Will Steadman came in for Kenny Howard for his last chance of a game before he sits out the whole of september due to suspension. |
| The Bristol side could've caused an upset for the Tigers, as we've seen on far too many occasions over the years, teams from lesser leagues are certainly no walkover. This year however was easier than expected. Andy Hoskins added to his impressive tally with four of the City goals, thats seven goals in four games now that Atherstone have been removed from the league. |
| Hosky though was lucky to be on the field to score those goals as the home bench screamed that he'd deliberately elbowed former FGR defender Rob Skidmore in the opening moments of the game. Maybe there's a little bit of history there, if there was then the fact that Hosk took the matchball home with him is surely better retribution than an elbow in the chops! |
The home side held a very high defensive line and City seemed happy to soak up the pressure and hit them on the break. They did this often. Harris looked as though he was easing his way back into the frame on the left and Lee Smith was having a ball on the right, giving his opposite number a right torrid time. City had that many chances that to document them in a match report would be tantamount to monotony.
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| Before Hosky got his first, Jimmy Cox had a couple of half chances, but as the afternoon wore on it was apparent that it simply wasn't going to be his day. For the goal, Jimmy's bad luck again played a large part. Put in by Lee Smith, the imposing stature of the home goalkeeper was too much to find a way past and his effort was pushed wide. Sadly for them what was actually a good save turned out to be a good goal as Hosky pressed onto the far post and stretched out his leg to prod the ball in. It has been suggested that the defender beat Hosk to the ball but I'm sure that Andy will be claiming it! |
| Another succession of chances followed, the main one came when Jimmy Cox caused confusion with a bouncing clearance on the halfway line and raced clear, only to be foiled by the keeper again. Farm hardly created anything of note. The only stir they did cause was getting Hosk a talking to when their manager complained to the referee, much to the distain of Neil Mustoe. There was no booking on this occasion, but Neil Griffiths wasn't so lucky when a card was produced after he'd felled the BMF striker near the halfway line. |
The second goal for City came just after the half hour when Hosky got on the end of a great pass and move involving Wilko and Tom Webb. Webby got to the touchline and cut the ball back beyond the keeper where Hosk completed the simple task of knocking the ball in from three yards out. It could've been a first half hat trick for the City striker a minute later when he got a head to Muzzie's free kick only to divert it just the wrong side of the post.
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| As the half came to an end Lee Smith tried to get himself on the scoresheet when his rasping shot from the edge of the box whizzed inches wide of the top left hand corner. All in all, a good half for City, the only negative points being the booking of Griff and the continued bad luck for Coxy. |
| Whether it was for a bet or not I don't know not in the opening moments of the second half Matt Bath became the first player to clear the ball over the railway line and into the River Avon! |
| As you'd expect from any team with a manager worth his salt, Manor Farm took the initiative for the opening few minutes of the second period but without really causing too much bother among City's back three. Again this left the Bristol side vulnerable to counter attacks and this was proved less than ten minutes into the half when Lee Smith put City 3-0 up. Coxy sprinted clear with the ball and when he got into the area found Smith with a short pass. Lee sidestepped the defender and passed the ball high to the keepers left for his first goal of the season. This caused quite a stir as the goalkeeper and the fullback almost came to blows! |
Hemming came on to replace Harris and the chances still flowed for City. Coxy missed another one on one and Lee Smith had a shot blocked. At the other end BMF mustered their first real attack when a last ditch block by Chris Thompson saw what looked a good chance roll comfortably to Matty Bath.
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| Again Jimmy Cox missed. His run and curling shot easily beat the keeper but smacked against the angle of post and crossbar and bounced away to safety. Then City made two more substitutions in quick succession. Will Steadman replaced Griff and Keith Knight came on for Wilko. Knighter has had his critics, but he looked a class act in midfield providing telling passes for the front runners where the likes of Wilkinson and Webb have been unable to. |
| As City had another dangerous attack cleared, Rob Skidmore, the BMF captain, berated one of his own players in front of the City fans. "Feel free to join in" was the remark from the ex-Gumper, as amusing as it may have been to us, I'd have smacked Skidmore if he'd humiliated me in front of people like that. |
| With only a few minutes remaining Andy Hoskins again showed Coxy how to finish when he found a gap between two dithering defenders to flick Knight's corner into the unguarded net. Then in the dying moments, he took the ball into the corner to kill time and in a rare show of skill back heeled the ball to Cox. As Jimmy progressed into the area, he was tugged back and the ref awarded a penalty. Hosk, in a rich vein of form slammed the ball high and wide to the keepers right to complete a comfortable 5-0 win and give us a home game against Team Bath. |
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