Wednesday Nov 09 2005 00:00
This was ultimately another frustrating game for City as they had to settle for a point after a sloppy period of play let Banbury back into a match that better finishing should have seen City put beyond their reach. Perhaps a point against a team in the upper reaches of the table should be seen as a reasonable result, but the Puritans were below strength and below par, and Burns will know his side must win home games or drastically improve our away form before our position in the lower end of the table becomes impossible to salvage.
City spirits were high coming into the match. First of all came a very welcome sight on the team sheet. Still in at number 7, Neil Mustoe. The City midfielder clebrated his birthday with a special gift for his club as he rejected a double-your-money offer from Southern League Premier rivals Mangotsfield United to again stay with the club he watched from the T-End as a boy. It was a decision of letting your heart rule your head, but that is exactly what football should be about. As an extra lift for the fans one of those players Mustoe watched as a schoolboy was also back at Meadow Park - with legendary striker Lance Magic Morrison making a trip from Birmingham to return to his old stomping ground. Lance was a key player in getting the goals that fired City to the 1988/89 Southern League Midland Division title, and a real fans favourite as his incredible elastic legs bamboozled the opposition and seemed to defy the laws of gravity. Lance must have got a real shock though when he saw Adie Harris on the City team sheet. The ageless winger was in the City side all those years ago, and at 41 hes still here and still in Burns starting eleven.
An unfortunate recurring theme to recent games has been the impact of referees who seem to miss crucial incidents. You could make an argument that todays ref had a better game as he didnt seem to make any hugely crucial mistakes. However, that doesnt quite do justice to his strange afternoon. Without any moments that would have changed the result or the flow of the match the ref still managed to get a whole lot wrong. It was almost as if he had a random decision generator as many of his decisions seemed to bare little relation to what was happening on the pitch. Through the game the decisions probably evened out between the teams, certainly we got little in the first half whilst Banbury were on the receving end more often in the second half. Addis and Corbett suffered a lot in the first half as every challenge they made seemed to be judged as pushing, climbing or holding. Some may have been, but some were laughable. The final blow came when the ref waved his yellow card for a challenge so innocuous that Im far from sure who was actually booked. It could have been Corbett, Marvin or Burnsie. Whoever it was, the ref was convinced hed committed several fouls all over the pitch. Whoever it was, they were very harshly done by.
City were sparkling and making Banbury look desperately ordinary, but having lost a little of their initial momentum due to the referees stop start whistling the question was whether we would be able to convert any of our pressure into a goal. Chances had come and gone but when the ball eventually ended up in the net it was a reminder of sometimes just how simple it can be to score a goal. For much of the first half Banbury constantly forgot about Adie Harris on the left and the one thing you cannot afford to do is allow Adie to build up speed down the wing. On this occasion he accelerated onto a wonderful Wilko pass and sped away from his marker, cutting in towards the penalty box. His low cross was right across the face of the Banbury goal and just beyond the stretching boots of Corbett and Wilkinson. Banburys Keiran Sullivan must have been relieved to be able to prod the ball back out of the area but it only went as far as Webb out on the right of midfield. He seemed to take an age to get the ball out from under his feet and then looked unsure of what to do. With the T-End screaming "shoot" fortunately the Banbury defence were slow to react and Webb still had time to pull the trigger. When it came it was a superb 25 yard drive that beat the keeper with sheer pace and power as it flew into the net.
City had their warnings that Banbury were coming back in to the game but after a bright start to the second half the visitors dominated the next twenty minutes. The City midfield seemed to lose interest in the game and Banbury were finding more room on the wings than they had enjoyed in the rest of the match. Under this kind of pressure our defence no longer looked particularly comfortable and there was plenty of warning that an equaliser was coming. First Matt Bath was forced to scramble back across his goal line and fling himself towards a ball tricling towards the net. He just managed to flick it away for a corner as the Banbury fans were ready to cheer.
A few moments later another deep Banbury cross from the left was swung in and although Tomkins got close to the forward he couldnt prevent him from managing a goalward header. Fortunately Mustoe was on hand to block the ball on the goal line. It was only a temporary reprieve though as the ball came straight back over the City defence. There was suddenly space everywhere as the previously congested midfield evaporated and the killer ball was nothing more complicated than a gentle lob into the penalty area. The ball was picked up by Paul Lambs angled run and he had time to take a touch and smash the ball past Matt Bath. It was no more than Banbury had deserved for thir spell of pressure, but the question was how City would respond.
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