| After Tuesday night's non-event against Yate Town, todays game was even more important as City try to regain ground on our Western Division rivals. With as many as seven games in hand on some teams, winning games now rather than later is a must. |
| Bedworth are a team in decline and there to be beaten. Two seasons ago they beat us 1-7 at Meadow Park and 1-4 in the Midlands, yet despite running us close have only managed to take one point off of us since (and that was during our FA Trophy hangover spell). |
| Yesterday saw a well supported Greenbacks team come to City in eighteenth place on the back of four straight defeats. Their support fell into two groups, one was the elder generation who'd supported them through the years and the younger lads who seemed to be surplus squad members! |
| The City team showed a couple of changes from the Yate game with Jimmy Cox and Neil Mustoe both reclaiming starting places from Tom Webb and Adam Hemming. Although the two youngsters were dropped to the bench, both would play an important part in the final thirty minutes as non-playing manager Chris Burns swapped experience for pace. |
Our opponents defied their league position by starting brightly but City hit back by winning an early corner. Keith Knight's set piece was headed goalwards by Neil Griffiths and it was blocked by a Bedworth defender's hand, either the referee didn't see it or deemed it accidental as nothing was given despite the appeals from the City team and supporters.
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| Bedworth's goalkeeper, Gary Hateley showed that he was up for the game when he blocked Jimmy Cox's shot after he'd received a pass from Andy Hoskins. At the other end Keith Knight totally missed the ball and it fell kindly for Jason Lanns on the left hand side of the box but Matt Bath showed that he was just as able as Hateley. |
| With City having the better of the attacking play, Lee Smith had a good shot pushed out by the Bedworth stopper and although Hosky was in attendance the ball fell agonisingly behind his run and was cleared to safety as Adie Harris closed in. Smith almost found Hoskins again moments later, but Hateley got there first and pushed the ball away to safety. |
| Neil Mustoe, having never scored for City (despite having had three chances from the penalty spot early last season) embarked upon a run that his boyhood hero Bryan Robson would've been proud of as he forced his way into the area, beat two men and a lucky bounce of the ball presented him with a shot, that, again Hateley blocked. |
| Bedworth were being given a real lesson in attacking football, they did have the occasional foray into the City half but didn't managed to get within range of disturbing Matty Bath. Coxy had a right footed volley fly just wide after the ball wasn't properly cleared and then Jethro almost hit the same spot when his shot from the aftermath of a City corner was off target. |
| On thirty-one minutes though, City finally beat Gary Hateley when Dave Wilkinson reacted quickest to a Neil Griffths header from a corner and stabbed the ball home from inside the six yard box. Wilko has taken on the position in front of the keeper quite a lot recently and it's reaping rewards for him now as after todays game he's the joint third highest scorer. |
Bedworth made a change almost immiediately after the goal as the forward Lanns was replaced by Kyle Storer, a player nicknamed 'Mad Dog' by the fans! He must've added something to the Greenbacks charge as they pretty much controlled the next ten minutes and shocked City with an equaliser just before the break. Adie Harris tripped the advancing attacker on the edge of the box and very nearly gave away a penalty, but it didn't matter as the free kick was easily headed in by James Richardson to leave Bath on his heels.
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| City would've felt robbed going into half time on level terms, but it only goes to show that you have to defend as well as attack! |
| Jimmy Cox might've restored City's advantage right from the off when he found room on the near post, but his shot wasn't high enough and Hateley did well to block it. Andy Hoskins then had his best chance of the afternoon from the resultant corner when he found the room for what was virtually a free header, only to see his attempt fly over the bar. |
| The Greenbacks then showed that they weren't going to settle for just a point when they had two good chances in quick succesion. Their first came when they shot wide of the far post when well placed and from a corner were unlucky as Wilko cleared from underneath the crossbar. |
| For once City were able to exploit Cox's pace as he was put through with a tempting, bouncing ball. Jimmy controlled it with his head and nodded it on in the process, only to see it blocked by the keeper when he eventually got it down. As the Tigers had shown, pace could open up Bed'uth so both Harris and Knight were replaced by teenage substitutes Adam Hemming and Tom Webb on the hour mark. |
| Webby's first act was to get on the end of a nice pass from Cox, but the ball bounced awkwardly as he bore down on the keeper and it struck his hand. It was no surprise as the referee called a halt to his progress, but you couldn't help feeling that he'd have been more lenient if it had struck the defender. |
At what was pretty much the halfway point of the second half City again got their noses in front with what was eventually the winning goal. A cross from Jimmy Cox found Andy Hoskins who saw his header again pushed away by Hateley, but this time it fell to Lee Smith out wide on the edge of the six yard box. Lee did well to keep the ball in play before lofting a pass back into the box for Dave Wilkinson to dive in and head in his second goal of the game.
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| As the game started again City looked in the mood where they could score another two or three goals and give the scoreline a more realistic look, however the Bedworth heads never went down and they fought until the end. Sometimes they fought a bit much as a two footed lunge on Lee Smith brought angry shouts from the T-End, yet surprisingly not even a whislte, free kick or a card from the referee. |
| Hateley then came into his own as he did his utmost to keep the Tigers at bay. He snatched an Adam Hemming cross from the head of the awaiting Jimmy Cox and then denied Andy Hoskins for the umpteenth time of the afternoon. The Greenbacks made another change but their attacking play was restricted to shots from the edge of the box. |
| With the game entering injury time Bed'uth had one last chance when they finally looked to outnumber City at the back but the final shot flew wide of Matt Bath's goal. At the other end, Hoskins was again denied by Hateley after he was put through one on one thanks to a Jimmy Cox pass. |
| The referee blew for full time to ensure that the Tigers had completed a 2-1 league double over our friends from the Miners Welfare Oval and give City a win that would move them into eleventh in the standings. An extremely turbulent week had ended with victory. |
| And as a footnote, how ironic was it that Dave's two goals made it a good day to be an English sportsman called Wilkinson! |
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