Yet another home game, yet another defeat, reminds me of twelve months ago, do you also get a feeling of deja'vu?

This game was not a game for enjoyment as two pretty poor sides battled the wind and a hard Church Road pitch for ninety minutes with the only goal coming from a midfield error as both defence's were on top throughout.

The first half of this encounter was really of little or no significance whatsoever, however it did throw forward the Missioners closest effort as a Jack Haverson header beat City keeper Naisbitt only to cannon back off the crossbar, the rebound being blocked before Ryan Ashe fired over from outside the area.

Apart the above action the only recorded acts saw Michael Bartley touch a Michael Gash header over his own bar and Kevin Davies easily fielded a shot from the same player until the final minute of the half where Davies again thwarted Gash and Josh Scott sent a throughball to Stafforde Palmer for the Missioners only for Michael Bartley to "get in the way".

In fact the only other action that stirred anybody was when the referees assistant awarded Hayes a throw-in, un-noticed by the referee the game continued and a foul was committed on a City player, instead of keeping his flag raised the assistant dropped it and moved away, when the referee was challenged by the incensed Hayes bench he consulted his assistant before giving the free-kick, sorry gents but this is the sort of decision making that gives you such a poor reputation, thankfully this technical error produced nothing or we might have had to appeal to UEFA!!

As with the previous Saturday, the Horlicks must have been flowing in the Hayes changing room at half time as we came out sleepwalking. Last week it took us 46 seconds to concede, this week it took 69, courtesy of a stray pass from Scott, playing out of position, that Gilbert Nuako could not reach. This gave Charlie Henry a run down the right side of the area whereby he centred the ball to unmarked striker Neil Midgley who beat Davies from close range.

Ten minutes into the half and the Missioners were dealt another blow when we lost keeper Kevin Davies after he had made an excellent save to keep the visitors at bay. A dangerous cross from Henry was allowed to bounce in the box and appeared to be heading for the net until a full stretch Davies tipped the ball away despite being clattered in the process by the oncoming City forward, how this was not given as a foul I really do not know but a corner was the verdict.

Before the kick was taken Kevin was helped from the field by the two teams physios looking decidedly groggy, thankfully after a trip to the local A&E Kevin has reported no major injury and he hopes to be back between the sticks on Tuesday. His replacement, making his League debut, was Adam Thomson who confidently lucked the corner kick out of the air.

Thomson was nearly caught off his line on 69 minutes but Craig Radcliffes effort was far too high, and it was not until the final ten minutes that the Horlicks wore off and we actually made Naisbitt work. Bartley and Scott, now restored to his striker role, combined to set up substitute Liam Feeney but the City keeper saved at the foot of his post.

The final action came deep into what was to be seven minutes of added time due to Davies injury, Feeney again saw a shot saved at the foot of the post before a ball into the box found Bartley who managed to turn his marker but could only weakly fire at Naisbitt.


Report by Kevin Watts.


Photos by Ray Peploe.