| City's festive season of cheer continued into the start of January with a well earned 3-1 victory over Ray Baverstock's Swindon Supermarine. |
| A morning that gave us snow on roofs and cars turned into a bitterly cold afternoon, and an impressive crowd of 385 wrapped up warm and came to Meadow Park to give the club the second hightest league attendance of the afternoon, with just the seven extra souls at Halesowen denying us the crown. |
| It was feared that the heavy pitch at the Causeway on Tuesday may have caused tired legs among the City players but Burnsy made just the one change to the starting line up. Keith Knight came into midfield to replace Dave Wilkinson and face one of his many former clubs. The subs bench consisted of Cheltenham youngsters Marvin Thompson and Lee Davis, plus Karl Bayliss, Dan Avery and Wilko. |
There were several familiar faces lining up for the opposition. Steve Bennett, the ex-City winger featured at centre half and aquitted himself admirably considering his stature suggested that he was out of place, alongside him was Darren McCluckey who was at Meadow Park for the bulk of the 2001-02 season. Darren has hardly featured for Swindon this season and didn't really look the player he was with us when he was replaced early in the second half. Both Tom King, in goal, and Simon Futcher (who started on the bench) both played a handful of games during our relegation season.
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| Swindon started off quite strongly and forced a free kick which was well dealt with by Lee Jeffries, a Mondeo driving Postman from Bristol with five kids according to the matchday programme. Once the danger was cleared, Tom Webb gave Lee Smith a ball to chase into the area and as the City player got to the ball he was brought down by Tom King and the referee pointed to the spot. Andy Hoskins, seemingly rejuvanted since his spot kick miss against Mangotsfield slammed the ball high into the net and City had an early lead. |
| It really ought've been two a minute later when Keith Knight whipped in a cross that was missed by everyone and fumbled into his own net by the keeper, however, the linesman's flag was aloft and the referee disallowed it for offside. But one could argue that no-one was interfering with play. |
| The next action for Swindon came when one of their players, Dave Slattery pulled up with a muscle strain and was replaced by Sean Terry. Bath then had to be alert as Supermarine had their first shot following Jethro's accidental tackle on Lee Smith, a comical incident that could've cost us. City replied through Neil Mustoe who set off on a mazy run towards the goal, sidestepped the defender before being nudged off the ball, a clear penalty denied. |
| Young Adam Hemming then had two half chances to add to his only goal of the season when he volleyed wide from Mustoe's deep free kick, he followed that with a shot which was arrowing it's way to the top right hand corner before being interrupted by a defender and deflected wide. He completed his five minutes of fame by getting booked for a late challenge, although he was unlucky really as his was just one of several late tackles and the referee chose to make an example of him. |
Two minutes later and the man in black had his notebook out again, but this time it was to record Tom Webb's first goal of the season. Jimmy Cox played Smith in along the wing, Lee beat his man, advanced to the touchline and laid the ball back for Webb to sidefoot under the keeper for a very much deserved and long overdue goal. He'll go on a Wilko style goalscoring run now and could even beat his midfield counterpart to ten goals!
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| Swindon had a great chance to pull a goal back from a free kick on the edge of the City box after Chris Thompson had been harshly penalised for what looked like a clean tackle, there was relief though as Adam Hemming cleared the danger. With the impetus of his first goal of the season, Webby broke though and shot wide, but the ref had already blown for offside and wasn't too keen on Tom's enthusiasm so he booked him. |
| Hemming then brought a good save out of Tom King when his outstretched leg denied the City youngster glory and had to make do with a corner instead. Jethro beat everyone to Knight's set piece but was unable to deliver the goods and ended up heading well over the bar. |
| City had two more chances before the break as every Swindon attack seemed to end prematurely thanks to the linesmsn's flag, sometimes somewhat harshly. First Lee Smith chased a goal kick, controlled the ball, cut inside and saw his shot deflected wide. Then a Tom Webb cross was touched onto the post by a defender, but the corner came to nothing. |
| A well deserved two goal lead saw us comfortably into half time. |
The second half could've had a rocky start for City as a well paced cross was well intercepted and brought out by Neil Griffiths. At the other end Jimmy Cox seemed to be pulled down, only the Cheltenham referee didn't agree and as everyone paused waiting for the whistle Andy Hoskins lashed in a shot from well outside the area which King was equal to.
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| At the home game last season Darren McCluskey didn't have the best of games, he gave away a penalty and accrued two yellow cards to earn an early bath. Today his game was ended prematurely as he was sacrificed with little more than five minutes of the half elapsed as he made way for former Forest Green winger Simon Futcher. |
| After being booked in the first half for a late tackle, Adam Hemming then became the victim as Swindon's Dave Gee flew in with his studs showing and cut the City man down. Controversy followed that as Swindon were awarded a penalty by the linesman following a sliding challenge by Lee Jeffries, it was given even though the City player seemed to win the ball. Giles Harris sent Bath the wrong way to halve the defecit. |
| The T-End began to get on the referee's back after Cox seemed to be pulled back en route to goal but nothing was given. Lee Smith saw his cross put out to safety by a defender and from the corner Jeffries headed narrowly wide. Swindon then made their third and final substitution as Carter was replaced. |
| Just when the City fans felt they might be getting a raw deal from the officials, Jimmy Cox scored with the referee waving play on despite his assistant raising his flag. From where I was stood it appeared that the City striker was a yard onside when the ball was played but after seeing the flag I'd given up on the chance. But Cox continued and curled a lovely shot inside King's far post, the T-End erupted and the referee pointed to the centre circle as the Supermarine players surrounded him. It was later suggested that the original ball came from a Swindon boot. |
Andy Hoskins had been quiet for some time and was replaced by veteran striker Karl Bayliss, whether he was carrying a knock or not remains to be seen. Hosky may well have been followed off the pitch by Tom Webb after he was scythed down by a late tackle by Harris, for which he was rightly booked.
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| A mistimed Lee Jeffries header from a Swindon goal kick gave Barrie Matthews a sight of goal but he could only shoot directly at Bath. More indisciple from Swindon saw Futcher's name taken for a late tackle on Lee Smith before the City wing back was again fouled on the edge of the box to give Keith Knight a free kick on goal. The former Swindon man's effort was headed back to him but he could only send another volley over the bar. |
| Just to remind us that all wasn't done and dusted, Supermarine launched a counter attack that needed a good defensive block to see off any danger. As City came forward again Lee Smith weaved his way between two defenders but went to ground amid shouts for a penalty, the referee wasn't interested. |
| City pretty much removed their attacking threat when Jimmy Cox was replaced by Lee Davis. With both starting strikers off, despite the assistance of Lee Smith pretty much every attack came to nothing. Cox was soon joined by Neil Griffiths on the sidelines for the last few minutes as Dan Avery was given a few more minutes experience. |
| The final whistle blew and it turned out to be a great result for City as they try to cement their third place in the league table. |
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