City stuttered their
way into the 3rd qualifying round with an entirely
unconvincing display against Western League Paulton
Rovers. The home team were without new signing Tommy
Callinan who was ineligible, so Webb regained a spot in
midfield while Keeling and Mings kept their places up
front. City had been warned Paulton were no mugs, but
still seemed to be unable to shake the idea they would
coast to an easy victory.
City seemed set to
knock the stuffing out of Paulton in the early exchanges,
the Tigers making their now characteristic early charge.
A series of corners stretched the visitors but neither
Mings or keeling were quite able to force the ball home.
A few minutes later both Keeling and Tucker were close to
getting on the end of a Hemmings cross, the former's pace
once again causing the opposition all sort of problems.
However City were
to quickly regret their early wastefulness. The nippy
Paulton strike duo of Perret and Boyle were moving the
City defence out of position with ease and with the
Tigers pressing forward they got caught by a classic
break-away goal. Evans charged down the left and found
himself alone with only Hemmings for company. Evans' pass
found Boyle unmarked and the former Ch@#tenham striker
put the underdogs into the lead.
In fairness to City
they responded positively and Kemp should have scored
from a free header which was palmed away by the Paulton
keeper. however the Gloucester pressure was taxing the
Somerset team's defence and after a few minutes of
relentless charges their concentration lapsed. Webb took possession from Burns in midfield and his pass caught the
Paulton defence flat footed, allowing Keeling to charge
through for a simple finish.
In the second half
the Paulton defence seemed better organised, with plenty
of men behind the ball they were still a threat on the
break. The City midfield and forwards seemed to struggle
for ideas as they were unable to translate the possession into scoring chances. Too often the Tigers relied on the
forward charges of Holloway and Thorne to add some
penetration to their play. As the home fans came
increasingly jittery the ineffective Mings was replaced
by Hoskins, followed soon after by Wyatt coming on for
the off-form Tucker.
The substitutions
seemed to breathe some new urgency into the City attack
with Wyatt and Holloway overlapping effectively down the
right. A deep Holloway cross was well controlled by
Hemmings, the winger almost turned the Paulton defence
but the visitors got a vital toe in. City then had an
alarm in their own penalty area as Mokler needed
treatment following a heavy fall having collected a
dangerous Paulton cross. The Paulton bench then had a
more serious problem as the excellent Taylor was
stretchered off having been knocked out cold in the scrum
following a City corner. City sensed the Rovers defence
had lost a vital player, but were unable to take
advantage despite the bustling effectiveness of Hoskins.
Webb had the best chance, shooting just over from the
edge of the area, while Holloway also sent Keeling
charging along the by-line, but the driven cross evaded
everyone.
As City became
increasingly frustrated they almost got caught out at the
back, but fortunately Perrett fired wide when he could
have earnt his side a famous win. That seemed to be the
bit of luck City needed as the game went into a long
period of injury time. Hoskins limped off to be replaced
by young Steve Bennett, and he grabbed a sensational last
minute winner. Burns was sent away down the left by
Hemmings, and Burns' curling cross was met by Bennett who
stooped low to flick the ball past Paulton's keeper.
While City's win
was cruel on battling Paulton it would be fair to say the
Western Leaguers task was made easier by a poor City
performance. Only Thorne and Holloway can really escape
criticism for a half-hearted performance. However,
looking on the bright side City have all to often lost
Cup games of this sort against the likes of Thatcham,
Clevedon and Cinderford - and this time they showed a
little more courage and persistence to at least scrape
the victory.
Mokler