When West Ham crashed
out of the Cup against Swansea midweek Hammers boss Harry
Redknapp said he couldn't be too critical of his players
as they had put in 100% effort - how Brian Hughes will
wish his players had given him that satisfaction. City
saw their run of form die in its infancy with this defeat
against a poor Grantham side. The Gloucester bandwagon
remained firmly in neutral as the players drifted
aimlessly to another demoralising home defeat that kills
off any lingering hopes of catching Nuneaton Borough.
Holloway came in
for the injured Niblett while Webb replaced Callinan in
the centre of midfield, but despite rattling Grantham in
the early exchanges City seemed always to be operating at
half pace. City won the toss and left Grantham staring
into the low winter sun as they attacked the T-End.
Recalled right-back Holloway swung over a deep cross in
the first minute, but this was to be a false dawn and his
only meaningful attacking contribution of the match. Gary
Thorne wasted another early opportunity when he met a
Webb free kick but headed over from eight yards.
First half City
dominated possession without convincing up front, Wyatt
constantly probing down the right and several times
effectively linking with Hemmings and Tucker. Despite
pressure City created few clear chances with the usually
reliable Andy Mainwaring looking sluggish in attack even
before a hefty Gingerbread's challenge left him nursing a
dead leg. Tucker did see a chance smothered at his feet
by Grantham keeper Germaine while Burns unpromising long
distance effort became more awkward as it came out of the
sunlight. With the Grantham fans quietened and bemused by
having their chants interrupted by cries of
"Leslie" at the appropriate moments Gloucester
looked the likelier to break a very dead deadlock.
However the visitors gave due warning of taking them too
lightly when a corner came off the City post before being
hacked clear by Wayne Thorne.
The second half was
a more even affair with Grantham sending in a few
stinging shots at Mokler. While Burns and Mainwaring came
close to carving out an opportunity Grantham hit the bar
when Pell beat Moks to a high cross. City tried to pile on
the pressure with Fergusson replacing the anonymous Webb
in midfield. Wyatt and Hemmings continued to plague
Grantham's full backs, but even when crosses did come in
Mainwaring was unable to capitalise and the midfield was
too deep to provide support. Hemmings seemed the most
promising hope of a goal, and surely our fans are wrong
to abuse him for not passing more - even if he could do
with looking up more often how can jeering our own
players be justified?
It was Hemmings who
inadvertently provided the breakthrough, although
unfortunately it came at the wrong end. Hemmo's pass fell
short of Fergusson and the highly rated Gary Twynham
cleared with a long ball that dissected a fragile looking
Tigers defence. With the City back line encouraged to push
right up our centre-backs were exposed by the pace of
Robert Pell. Moks charged out of his goal and met the
on-rushing Pell, the outcome being City conceding a
penalty for the third consecutive match. From the T-End
it wasn't clear if the Ref made the right decision, the
general quality of officials in the DML not exactly
filling you with confidence that justice had been done.
Certainly the decision to book Moks was curious - if he'd
bought down Pell surely he should have seen red? As it
was he was unable to repeat last week's heroics at Sheepy
Road with Gilbert putting the full-time professionals
ahead.
The increasingly
witless and quiet T-End chorus tried to galvanise some
action out of the team and themselves but failed as the
expected all out City attack failed to materialise.
Hoskins came on for the disappointing Andy Tucker but
there seemed little extra in the Tiger's tank. Wyatt saw
a hopeful shot sail wide while both Hemmings and
Mainwaring tumbled in search of a penalty the referee
would probably not have awarded even if fouls had been committed. Burns tried to crank up the atmosphere with a
good hard fist fight but his troops couldn't even muster
much interest in a punch up. The only real opportunity to
snatch a late point came when Hoskins headed inches wide
from a Hemmings cross. The final whistle allowed a veil
to be drawn on a dreadful gutless City display, leaving
only the exchange of unpleasantries with the Gingerbreads
obnoxious keeper to cheer up a despondent T-End. If you
want a reason for falling crowds don't blame other
neighbouring clubs, or even the local media - perhaps its
these strangely passionless performances. We've got good
players but if they won't work hard then the team itself
will never go anywhere.
Mokler
