City travelled to The Gore, home ground of Burnham F.C. on Wednesday night and came away with a superb 3-1 win despite having to weather long periods of pressure from the Blues. The back five simply did not put a foot wrong.
Andy Leader fielded a much-changed side from Saturday’s defeat at Marlow and thereby set himself a problem with team selection for this Saturday as the team featuring six recent signings, Nathan Miles, Richard Gregory, James Knight, Gareth Thomas, Paul Taplin and Aaron Parfitt, all of whom played well to carve out a win in difficult circumstances.
City, started strongly with Tom Riddell firing into the side netting before they took the lead on six minutes. Burnham only had 10 players on the pitch at the time, a situated that effected both sides during the game, with a defender the touchline receiving attention for a leg injury, which eventually ended any further involvement in the game. Richard Gregory crossed the ball from the right and the unmarked Dave Allen slammed the ball hard and low beyond the despairing dive of keeper Jon Beames.
City now came under pressure with Burnham forcing a number of corners but it was a City corner which nearly resulted in the next goal with Thomas’ header which just clearing the crossbar. Burnham then got on top with Yarnie putting Brown in on goal but his effort was blocked for a corner. Jones had two runs cutting in from the left, his first ended with a weak shot that caused City keeper Clint Davies no problem, while his second attempt a few minutes later was only just wide of the top corner.
At the other end Allen forced Beames into a good save and the Burnham keeper spilled a shot from Gregory, but he recovered well to deny the second attempt. It was now City’s turn to be down to ten men when Bowler spent a lengthy time in physio Stephanie Gniotek’s hands receiving treatment for a head injury. He returned swathed in bandages and completed the game. Davies became the first player to receive a yellow in a match that was eventually littered with them. The referee booked him for this being for ‘persistent time wasting’, not often an offence seen so early in a game!
Yarnie was causing City problems and was denied he broke through on the left but Davies smothered the shot and then Canavan miskicked and Gregory broke clear, to send City forward, however the defender managed to get back to put the attacker off, the ball going harmlessly over the bar. Burnham could not break down the City defence with Bowler and Steve Llewellyn in especially good form and Thomas and Miles settling in well and between them they hardly missed a header or a tackle all evening. Right on half time City went two-up Parfitt outpaced the Blues defence down the left and pushed the ball inside to Allen who waltzed around two defenders before finishing clinically.
City replaced Adam George at half time as he had struggled with the pace due to a groin injury and Taplin replaced him (46th) and soon after brought on Adam Lang (52nd) for Miles and .Knight for Riddell (60th), as Andy Leader sought to mastermind a victory. The changes almost had an instant success when man of the match Allen found time and space to lob the keeper but the ball was just wide of the mark.
Goodhram and Lee both received yellow cards for fouls as did Thomas for City. Then Blue’s skipper received another unnecessary yellow card and consequently was sent off. The rampant Allen almost completed his hat trick but screwed his shot wide when perhaps a pass into space in the box was the best option.
A mistake from the Blue’s keeper, however handed City a third goal. The impressive Allen fired in an innocuous looking shot from 25 yards which somehow the keeper failed to hold and Knight outpacing the defender had a simple task to net in the 85th minute. Burnham did manage to get on the score sheet in the 88th minute. O’Connor found space down the middle and ran on to place the ball under the diving Davies. This goal encouraged the home side and they could have added another goal when first Yarnie fired into the side netting and Dowdican rushed a shot on the turn that Davies held.
City: Clint Davies, Gareth Thomas, Nathan Miles, Adam George (P Taplin), Matt Bowler, Steve Llewellyn, Richard Gregory, Dave Allen, Aaron Parfitt, Tom Riddell, Steve Lockyer Substitutes: Adam Lang (52nd), James Knight (60th), Paul Taplin ( 45th), TJ McClory-Cuthbertson and James Keefe.
