City can’t get past Concord’s Wall after early double blow

City suffered a second successive away Vanarama National League South defeat at play-off rivals Concord Rangers this afternoon. The hosts raced into a two-goal lead with less than ten minutes on the clock and then saw imposing keeper Beasant almost single-handedly keep City at bay as they largely dominated the last hour of the game, before Sean Rigg’s looping header deep in stoppage time grabbed a consolation goal. After just two minutes City gifted Concord the lead when Jack Batten failed to deal with Green’s cross, giving Wall a simple finish from six yards out. And seven minutes later the home side broke forward from a City corner and Wall raced clear to slide it past Ryan Clarke to double their lead. It took City a while to recover from this disastrous start but slowly they began to get on top. Adam Mann drilled a shot narrowly wide on 17 minutes then Beasant was called into action three times in five minutes, denying Freddie Hinds, Andy Watkins and James Morton in quick succession. The half ended with a scramble from a City corner somehow staying out of the goal. The introduction of Rigg at half-time gave City further attacking impetuous and they penned the Beach Boys in their own half during the opening stages of the second half. However, they couldn’t make this pressure count where it mattered, with Hinds seeing another chance cleared off the line and then Beasant producing his best save of the game from Ryan Brunt’s downward header. Concord had several chances to put the game completely beyond the Romans after this but couldn’t take them and in the last of four minutes stoppage time Beasant was finally beaten by Rigg’s header. There was still just time for Hinds to cross to an unmarked Brunt but he couldn’t direct his header on target and that turned out to be the final action of the afternoon.