City suffer narrow pre-season defeat to League 2 Pirates

A Bilongo goal midway through the second half was enough to see Bristol Rovers emerge victorious from this evening’s friendly meeting with City at Cannon Clarke Stadium @ Twerton Park. Although it was a third successive pre-season defeat, the Romans gave the League 2 side a stern test, particularly during the first half.

The first opening of the game saw Forde fire high over Harvey Wiles-Richards’ bar on 15 minutes. The striker saw several other chances come and go before the best chance of the first half fell to City. Jordan Alves was sent clear on goal and his shot beat ex-City keeper Luke Southwood but flashed narrowly wide of the goal. Forde was then denied by Wiles-Richards to see the game reach the interval goalless.

The second half saw Rovers step up a gear and press City back. It looked like they had broken the deadlock on 55 minutes when the ball found its way to Sotiriou with the goal at his mercy but he somehow managed slice a shot wide from close range. Resolute defending from City continued to keep the visitors out but on 68 minutes their resistance was finally broken. McEachran’s free-kick picked out an unmarked Bilongo at the back post to side foot home from six yards out. Although they created several further openings this turned out to be the only goal of the game, leaving the majority of the impressive 2205 crowd to head home happy.