| Sour grapes? Probably sounds like it, but hey, at least we're not Cockneys. |
| It's great feeling to be 2-0 up away from home, points pretty much in the bag and then, whammy, the BITB comes along and spoils things. Could it be anything to do with the fact that you can bet on our league games this season? I reckon more than the Chesham fans went home happy tonight as one man in particular profited with his match fee, the wad of notes that were carelessly left in his dressing room and also a healthy return from Bet365! |
| Chesham are one of the teams from last season's Ryman League who have crossed over into our setup. You'd think there wouldn't be too much to link between the two clubs but in the middle of midfield in the number eight shirt was the legendery Andy Adebowale, a player who entertained the Tigers' faithful after joining from Merthyr Tydfil a decade ago. |
| Another City great who'd previously featured in the Claret of Chesham was Chris Townsend after he left Meadow Park for the second time in the mid-nineties. The two teams have only met once in my time of supporting City, and that was a in October 1999. |
| Tonights game was an early season top of the table clash, with both sides unbeaten with just three games gone. The Buckinghamshire side were above us by virtue of a better goal difference, although City had yet to put in a performance to warrant such a lofty position in the standings. |
| The trip to Chesham was the first of the new generation of Tigers by Minibus, all seemed to go pretty well except maybe the part when the critics visited the CD section at Oxford services! |
| The Amy Lane ground, named after a local woman who'd single-handedly run the club through the 1950's presented quite a deceptive looking slope but had decent cover behind both goals and along the sides. This was the first ground that I've been to since Sittingbourne's Central Park that had iron terraces. |
| Chris Burns's squad was now top heavy with strikers. He named the same starting eleven as Saturday and Andy Hoskins replaced Karl Palmer on the bench, so the now available Kenny Stiles didn't feature. The news that Adam Howarth will be back to bolster the squad was well received and he can't come soon enough to bloster the frail backline. |
| The game opened at quite a slow pace but Chesham number four Andre 3000 Scarlett showed enough to get back and deny Lee Smith a free run at goal after he was put clear. The City wing back had another chance when home keeper Bradley Hughes had flapped a Keith Knight cross to him but could only drag a shot wide of the unguarded net. |
| The home team were enjoying lots of possession as the Tigers took a very deep defensive line. Scarlett almost profitted from a few short passes on the edge of the box as he sent a shot narrowly wide but at the more interesting end Neil Mustoe forced a good save from Hughes with a rare shot from the edge of the area after good work from Knight and Matt Aubrey. |
| Aubrey's strike partner Lee Davis was denied a good chance by a very late flag when he ran through on goal and lobbed the keeper. The Cheltenham loanee was given as offside when the Chesham centre half totally missed a forward header from Knight in a decision that always favours the likes of Van Horseface but never Gloucester City players! |
| It should've been 1-0 to the home side through a far post free header that Matt Bath made a point blank save to keep out, although the City stopper won't have known too much about it. By now Knight had had enough of running up the hill and hobbled out of the action with less than twenty minutes gone. Adie Harris replaced him. |
| Hughes, a keeper so bad in the air that it looked like he was an outfield player acting as an emergency stand-in, pushed a Wiko cross-shot out for a corner, although he could've easily left it. Mustoe's corner came to nothing. |
| Adebowale, largely anonymous in the middle and certainly not producing runs like the one that got City's second at Hednesford during Christmas 1994 blotted his copybook with a dreadful lunge at Wilko which left the City man needing treatment. Surprisingly there was no card for the veteran midfielder, but you could imagine the scene with the referee asking "what's your name son", "Andy Adebowale", "duh, erm, ok, uh, don't do it again". |
| Again we were denied by the ineptitude of the official when as Aubrey was clear and about to shoot he pulled play back twenty yards for a free kick to City. No advantage to play then was there? Tosser! The juggling buffoon between the sticks flapped at the free kick but no City player could take advantage of the loose ball as it was cleared from danger. |
| City took the lead with a few minutes to go until half time when Aubrey, despite looking to have fouled his marker sent Smith free down the right and a wonderful sharp, curling cross was met at the far post by Lee Davis for his first goal in senior football. |
| It served as a wake up call for Chesham and they might've grabbed an equaliser before the break but for the woeful shooting and good keeping from Matt Bath. More alarmingly were the number of fouls that the referee was letting go as anarchy was in danger of taking over! |
| On the balance of play maybe we were fortunate to be leading at the break but when is football ever fair? Certainly the forty-five minutes that followed didn't seem to be as Chesham had more than their share of good fortune. |
| Maybe the change in altitude had affected Matt Bath as for some reason he left a cross that looked as though it had gone behind, but it came down with snow on it and bounced off the bar back into the danger area. Fortunately it was cleared but gave the City fans behind the goal a real scare. |
| Not having his best of games, Adie Harris slipped and let in the Chesham wideman (I would say wideboy but all Cockneys are) who dragged a shot wide of the far post. Bathy let it go but given the cross he'd misjudged earlier... |
| Aubrey was sent through by Smith but knocked off the ball far too easily then Harris found himself the subject of some unwanted attention out on the left wing as he was fouled left, right and centre. |
| More high jinks from CoCo Hughes as he completely missed a swirling shot and Adebowale just nipped in front of Adie Harris, his ex-City teammate from the John Murphy era to head the ball out for a corner. |
| It was the end of the evening for both Aubrey and Davis as City's super strikeforce of Cox and Andy Hoskins were reunited, although youngster Davis can feel slightly aggrieved at being sacrificed as he was having a good game. It's not often that a substitute gets substituted but I would've dropped Davis in on the left and replaced the out of sorts Harris. |
| Hosky almost started where he left off when he headed against the bar from close range but his shove on the defender was a little too obvious and the Chesham favouring offical blew up against the City man. With City having used up all of their subs, United made their first change. |
| However, soon enough City had doubled their lead when the goal hungry looking Cox ran goalwards and saw his powerful shot deflect off the defenders ass before smacking against the back of the net. |
| With his fixed odds not looking very good at two down, almost immediately after the restart the referee awarded a penalty against Marvin Thompson as the attacker backed into the City man in the area. Bath went the wrong way and our lead was halved. |
| A double substitution marked the end of Adebowale's night and also turned the game heavily in the home sides favour. A counter attack saw a shot deflected just the right side of the post and into Bath's side netting with the City number one rooted to the spot. |
| Chesham should've been reduced to ten men when Jimmy Cox was tripped from behind as he ran through onto Lee Smith's pass, but the referee chose to award just a free kick and book Dave Fotheringham, the offender, so all in all the cheat prospered as City were denied a clear goalscoring opportunity. |
| The free kick came in and Hosky sent a header wide, although I did manage to get a touch as it went into the crowd. That mean't that I'd touched the ball more times than the Chesham 'goalkeeper' through the game! |
| Since they'd made their double substitution Chesham had pretty much dominated play and they looked in control. Despite having a man lying injured in an offside position they seemed reluctant to kick the ball out (something they'd been shy of all evening) and took advantage of the confusion as Garry Sippetts slotted home into the far corner for the equaliser. |
| It was clear that there was only going to be one winner now as shell shocker City struggled to handle the rampant Cockneys. The final ten minutes saw the ball flash across Bath's area far too often and one of them saw Marvin Thompson penalised for the second time and he conceeded his second penalty of the night. He was also booked. |
| Marvin, probably taking his 'Super Marv' nickname to heart, did an impression of his namesake and stuck his arms out as he was shoved in the back. Problem was that they connected with the ball and the BITB pointed to the spot again. When Hosky hit the bar earlier he'd given a foul against the City man, so what was the difference here? Oh yeah, the yellow shirt! |
| Bath guessed the right way but Lawford scored his second penalty of the night and the three points were in the bag for the home team. |
| City had one last chance as the keeper again made a pigs ear of a free kick but then got down well to smother a drive from Chris Thompson. The final whisle went and as the City fans went home dejected the Chesham fans cracked open the jellied eels. |
| Chesham would've been £25 better off tonight too, as a number of us had decided to group together and use the profits from the minibus to sponsor former Tiger Adebowale, but the referee had already shown them enough generosity so balls to them! |
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| Tiger Roar Man of the Match - Lee Davis |
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Lee Davis
Star Man |
A first goal for the young striker as City fell to a disappointing defeat within the sound of the Bow Bells. The teenage striker might've had two but for a debateable offside decision when the defender failed to control a Keith Knight header. He can count himself unlucky to have been substituted for hotshot Jimmy Cox, but will find chances limited once Chris Burns' deadly duo are fully fit.
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