| Oh for the romance of the FA Cup and not this tripe served up today. In a week where there have been suggestions of a price rise at Meadow Park, todays game hardly merited parks football, let alone paid entertainment. |
| I suppose I ought to be grateful for another bite at the cherry really but I always thought we'd lose this one. Given that we were odds on to win and the students were 2/1, the bookies obviously fancied us. Saying that, I'm sure they'll just reverse the odds for the replay so I'll have a tenner on the Tigers! |
| On a personal note the afternoon didn't have the greatest of starts as an old bloke reversed straight into our car as we were parking outside Meadow Park! Inside the ground, the sun was beating down and the pitch looked dusty and rock hard. Not the best surface for football. |
| The only change for the City today was Adam Hemming in at left wing back for Adie Harris. Tom Webb and Wilko kept their places in midfield despite struggling to find their best form lately, that said, Webby has been awful. Today, barring a second half header was no exception. That said, nobody really excelled themselves. |
Last week Solihull came out of the traps and straight at us. Today I don't think there was a decent chance for either side in the first ten minutes. There was a late tackle that left Neil Mustoe needing treatment but the referee showed leniency, a trait that was to figure heavily at the end of the game.
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| The first real chance came when former Tiger Luke Prince had a shot on the turn that was easily saved, although Matt Bath made it look like hard work on the hard surface, then they came within inches of taking the lead as a glancing header flew across the face of the goal with Bath beaten. |
| After not having too much luck and not really looking at the races Adam Hemming was replaced by Adie Harris after just ten minutes. At half time it was suggested that he'd gone over on his ankle and that may have been backed up when he was hobbling around the touchline for the remainder of the game. Team Bath also made a change at the same time. |
| City's best chance from the early exchanges came when Jimmy Cox could only head weakly at the keeper after he'd been put in by Lee Smith. In response they sent in a wicked curling and dipping shot that went high and wide, although, had it been on target then Matty may have been in trouble. |
| In the move of the game which had TB manager Ged Roddy jumping in frustration the students put together a move which ended with a cut back cross and shot which looked to be heading into the far corner. Matt Bath earned his corn in one instant with a reflex save to push the ball away when his vision may have been impaired. |
| With their tails up, Team Bath went on the attack again and had several players forward on a counter attack when a last ditch block from Chris Burns prevented a dangerous looking shot from getting near to the goal. At the other end City had a corner, Mustoe's set piece was poor and it was cleared all too easily adding to the frustration of the City fans. |
| For once Jimmy Cox found some space out on the right wing and thought he may have had a run in on goal but he was clumsily fouled. Surprisingly the referee chose not to speak to the offender. As the yellows seemed to find their feet they created a good opportunity through Tom Webb, unfortunately he took the ball too wide and when he could get a shot in it was at an impossible angle. The keeper saved with ease. |
| The game wasn't producing much in the line of excitemenet, but it didn't help that the students seemed to go down after every knock. Having already used one sub they lost their captain Alex Ball with a suspected broken collarbone. Adie Tandy rushed out with a new stretcher to tend to the injured player but was unable to open it and ended up helping Ball walk off the pitch. |
There ended the first half with a mixture of frustration and lack of any real cutting edge. It was awful.
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| The second half opened as badly as the first half had finished. Passes were misplaced, Webb and Mustoe being the main culprits and nothing much really happened. Wilko got a touch to the end of one of Griff's long throws but his header ended up a good six feet wide of the far post. |
| The ref reached for his notebook for the first time on fifty two minutes when Andy Hoskins talked his way into a booking after a goal kick was awarded when the City players thought it was a corner. Team Bath had an attack then which ended in Luke Prince being upended on the edge of the box. I really thought that the set piece would lead to a goal but Matt Bath held firm and cleared the danger for City. |
| They followed that chance up with another low shot, again held by Matty but with the hard surface there was always a possibility that one of these shots could slip from either keepers grasp. City replied with a nice move through Cox. He cut the ball back for Webby to shoot but two defenders slid in to block before he could fire in a shot. |
| Andy Hoskins went down after a challenge and for a moment it looked as though our goalscoring machine may well be in trouble but he managed to run it off. Muzzie, not having one of his better games, conceded a free kick and then hoofed the ball away a good two seconds after the whistle. A more card happy referee would've booked him for that. |
On 68 minutes again both sides made a substitution. Bath made their last replacing their tall attacker Tom Stocco and City brought Keith Knight into the fray for Wilko. I think that Knighter is wasted out wide, age isn't his friend I'm afraid, but I do think he can do a job in the middle of the park because he seems to be one of the only players that knows how to pass a ball.
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| Again Mustoe gave away a free kick, and again he was lucky not to be booked. If that made the City fans think that he was lenient then the incident that followed with Andy Hoskins only served to confirm it. After an attack on the wing broke down, Hosk flailed his arm back and caught the Bath player in the head right in front of the linesman. The lino flagged, the ref came over and we thought it was an early bath for the City striker. The ref only saw fit to talk to him and he'll know that he was lucky not to be sent off. |
| As if the sparing of the red card fired him up, Hosky got onto the end of a long ball down the wing and whipped in a cross which Webby headed just the wrong side of the post. Clearly out of sorts, at the end of last season he would've easily scored. Then Hosk broke through but in a tangle with the defender was adjudged to have committed a foul when the home fans saw nothing wrong. I mean, Hosky doesn't foul does he! |
| With ten minutes remaining City used their third and final substitute. Neil Mustoe departing and Steve Jenkins came on for his first appearance of the season. With precious little time remaining there were half chances at either end although Chris Thompson was doing well in his role as emergency centre back. On this occasion he got to a loose ball after Bath had an extra man on a swift counter attack. |
| At last the City fans had something to cheer when Neil Griffiths nodded Knight's free kick in but the linesman ruled that there had been a foul by Burnsy on the Bath defender. Maybe the flagger was miffed that the ref had ignored his advice to send Hosky off. Then with the clock counting down Hosk was set free with just the keeper to beat but as he hit the ball it took a bad bounce and his shot flew wide. |
| At least we're still in the cup and we get a chance to visit the campus in Bath to replay on monday night. Surely it can't be as bad as today was. Surely! |
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