City book Concord trip with comfortable Sholing FA Trophy win

A goal in each half secured City a largely untroubled passage into the FA Trophy 2nd Round against Sholing FC at Twerton Park this evening. After a scrappy opening to the game where neither side could retain the ball City slowly began to gain the upper hand. Several chances came and went before, on 23 minutes, Ryan Brunt curled a precise shot in off the post to put City in front. Moments later Ryan Clarke had to be alert to block Sawyer’s attempted lob but City were soon back on the front foot. However, the Boatmen stood up well to this pressure and kept the deficit at just one goal at the break. There was little change to the pattern of the game into the second half as City continued to push for a second goal. It finally arrived just before the hour mark but not before the visitors had their best chance of the game when a corner dropped to Mason but he could only shoot tamely straight at Clarke. City immediately broke upfield after this escape and Joe Raynes crossed for Andy Watkins to steer the ball past Gosney. Three minutes later another Raynes cross was delightfully back-heeled home by Tom Smith only for the linesman to rule out what would have been the pick of the evening’s goals for offside. It mattered little though as City continued to dominate possession for the remainder of the game, going close on several occasions to adding to their lead whilst keeping the Hampshire side at bay with a disciplined defensive performance.