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Burnham 1 Winchester City 0
Burnham Shade it by a Nose as City Lose Out Again
Burnham 1 Winchester City 0
Winchester City returned from Burnham with nothing to show from a game in which they deserved to take at least a point. City’s performances have improved of late and, facing a Burnham side without a league win since late August, might have expected to pick up their first three points of 2008/09.
Burnham started the brighter and their long ball tactics forced an early save from City keeper Clint Davies. But the game soon settled into a balanced affair with neither side dominating the play for any period of time and few chances appearing at either end.
Burnham had a couple of first half chances when Jordan Dowdican raced City’s Matt Bowler to a forward ball with only Davies to beat. But the Burnham striker controlled the ball with his hand and he was awarded a yellow card as a result. Adam Kelly displayed a cool head when his perfectly timed tackle took the ball away from a Burnham player just as he was about to strike at goal.
At the other end City also had chances, the first coming as Brett Williams broke through the defence only to hit a weak shot straight at the home side’s keeper. A similar situation unfolded in the 37th minute when Jono Richardson shot directly at the Burnham custodian. But City’s best chance occurred in the 33rd minute when Matt Bowler rose to head Sam Lockyer’s free kick towards the Burnham goal. However, the ball struck the bar and Bowler was rewarded with a broken nose for his trouble as there appeared to be a clash of heads as he went for the ball. Bowler was sent to hospital, and James Eyles was sent on to replace him.
The even balance of the first half continued in the second, and again neither City nor Burnham could claim the upper hand. A Burnham player headed a freekick harmlessly towards Davies, whilst Steve Llewelyn was left ruing his luck after seeing his headed effort from Lockyer’s place kick run wide of the post. Debutant Mike Spinney repeated the set piece when he saw his glancing header go the wrong side of the post in City’s best chance of the half.
On 66 minutes manager Andy Leader swapped Andy Borthwick with Richard Gregory, but this more attacking line up failed to make any further headway in to the Burnham defence.
Burnham took the lead on 69 minutes when Leon Yarnie worked his way through the City defence and slipped the ball wide of Davies’ reach, ending up in bottom left of the City goal.
City had one further chance that fell to Gregory but, again, the strike forced a straightforward save from the keeper. In one last throw of the dice Carl Foster replaced Kyle Joryeff in the 76th minute, but the game fell away as Burnham shut their defence tightly. Davies was called upon to make one last injury time save which, had it have gone in, with have resulted in an extremely flattering final score for the hosts.
City: Davies C, Wilson, Lockyer, Borthwick (Gregory 68), Bowler (Eyles 33), Llewelyn (capt), Richardson, Kelly, Williams, Spinney, Joryeff (Foster 76). Subs (not used): Morgan, Smallpiece.
On Tuesday (14th) City travel away to AFC Hayes in the British Gas Business Southern League SW1. Hayes are struggling this season and a win for City could act as a kick start to their season.
Document last updated: 15/10/2008
