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City extend unbeaten run

- 03/04/2010


City 0 Lewisham Borough 0

City today extended their unbeaten run to six games and have not lost sight of promotion but much now depends on next Saturday’s home game against Hollands & Blair.

Lewisham Borough defended well but created little. City created a few more chances but overall had a poor day. It was a game that got stuck in the middle.

City had been looking for revenge for their Bill Manklow Cup defeat on penalties in February, yet almost from the start there was the feel of a draw about the game. City lost goalkeeper Paul Hyde with a facial injury after only ten minutes, leaving Zulmalashvili to take over and do well to keep a clean sheet.

Rob Storrie return to midfield and Luke Lockhart started on the bench. Wayne Fittall was absent through injury and Dave Read and Royston led the attack.

Hyde had only just kept Lewisham at bay with a typically safe save from a low shot when he had to come to the edge of the penalty area to cope with a high bouncing ball. A Lewisham striker arrived at the same time and in the collision Hyde lost a front tooth, which was found and taken to hospital along with its owner! Both were reunited.

A header over the bar from Read and a shot that went in the vicinity of the goal by Gough were the only notable opportunities of the remainder of the first half.

Lewisham were incensed when they got the ball in the net after the City ‘keeper, a City defender and a Lewisham attacker all met the ball in the air at the same time. At first it seemed that the referee had awarded a goal but he later explained that he had pointed to where a free-kick should be taken and pointed upfield. If City had a let off, it was balanced when, later, they appeared to have a penalty appeal turn away.

The only player in the whole game to make a real difference to the stalemate was Renford Tenyue who came on after sixty-five minutes. His speed and deft ball control had the left side of the Lewisham defence in a panic.

City were much the more forceful side over the last twenty minutes but up front nothing would go right. Gough curled a shot that the ‘keeper just managed to hold, then did much the same with another. Tenyue attacked down the wing, only to be blocked by the keeper as he tore into the penalty area.

City Manager Dave Fairclough even sent substitute Luke Lockhart on as a striker, but there remained was no way though. Read probably had the best chance of the day but in turning on the ball he screwed it over the top. Tenyue’s final effort to offer City a chance to snatch victory came in the 90th minute when he squared the ball to Gough who slid his shot beyond the post.

City: Hyde (Zulmalashvili); Beaney, Lingham, Baker, Seager (Lockhart), Smith, Storrie, Southern, Whiting (Tenyue), Read Gough.