City suffer cruel stoppage time defeat

City suffered stoppage time heartbreak against Hungerford Town at Twerton Park this afternoon. Having twice deservedly come back from a goal behind it was City who were pushing for a late winner but, moments after strong penalty appeals were waved away by the referee after Alex Fletcher appeared to be tripped in the box, it was the neon-yellow clad visitors celebrating when Ofosu headed home the winning goal. The Crusaders had only scored one goal on their travels this season but were gifted the lead on 12 minutes when Joe Wright raced from goal only for Muir to reach the ball first before firing it into the empty net. Wright redeemed himself with stunning stops from McGory and Ofosu and in-between these saves Jordan Dyer’s thumping 26th minute header from a Dan Hayfield corner levelled the scores. Hungerford regained the lead in the first minute of the second half when Smith’s corner appeared to curl straight into the net. Scott Wilson beat keeper Dickinson to a high ball on the hour mark but saw his header drop onto the roof of the net. However, nine minutes later he latched on to Rex Mannings’ great through ball to make it 2-2 with a neat finish. The visitors were still happy to slow the game down at every opportunity leaving City to try to keep the tempo up. Elliott Frear and Spokes saw shots comfortably held by Dickinson and Fletcher showed great control in the box before his cross seemed to be blocked by a defender’s arm. That would have been a harsh penalty but when the same player skipped past Berry-Hargreaves only to go down under the defender’s desperate lunge it looked like a certain spot kick. However, the referee and linesman both saw nothing wrong with the challenge and City were doubly punished two minutes later when an unmarked Ofosu headed home to send the points back to Berkshire.