Second half penalty enough to see City suffer home defeat

A penalty kick early in the second half was enough to send City to defeat against Chelmsford City this afternoon at Cannon Clarke Stadium @ Twerton Park.

A third minute Luke Russe shot was spectacularly tipped over the bar by Clarets keeper Addai, but this was a rare effort on target for either side. The visitors did fashion several sights of goal but failed to trouble Harvey Wiles-Richards with wildly off-target efforts. With eight minutes left in the half City were desperately unlucky not to take the lead. Brad Ash’s neat corner picked out Will Jenkins Davies and his low shot was inadvertently diverted onto the bar by Addai’s legs, the rebound dropping back into the relieved keeper’s arms.

The second half began with defences still on top but on 58 minutes Chelmsford were awarded a penalty. Taylor went to ground under the slightest touch by Jack Batten but it was enough to convince the referee. The same player recovered sufficiently to dispatch the spot kick past Wiles-Richards. City introduced new loan striker Jake Tabor just past the hour mark but with a lead to protect Chelmsford were producing a defensive performance that City couldn’t find a way through. In the end, a stoppage time Jordan Alves shot that flew a yard over the bar was a close as the Romans would come to rescuing anything from another disappointing afternoon.