Fletch return caps great afternoon for City

City enjoyed a near perfect afternoon at Twerton Park as a Scott Wilson double and Ewan Clark strike fired them to a 3-1 win over Hampton & Richmond Borough. The day was then capped off with Alex Fletcher returning to action as an 85th minute substitute – 291 days since suffering his dreadful head injury.

After an even opening to the game City struck first on 19 minutes when a great cross-field ball by Luke Russe picked out Clark and his centre was fired into the roof of the net by Wilson. Ollie Wright produced a good stop with his legs shortly after this but City were good value for their narrow advantage at the break.

And this lead was doubled just before the hour mark. A swift break saw Jordan Thomas’ attempted pass to Cody Cooke blocked but Wilson stepped up to curl the ball home from 20 yards. Hampton came close on a couple of occasions to getting back in the game but another high quality strike put the game beyond them on 71 minutes. Clark cut inside from the right flank before giving Desbois no chance from 20 yards. Despite the quality of all three goals the biggest cheer of the afternoon was reserved when Fletcher replaced Cook with five minutes left.

Three minutes from time Hampton were awarded a penalty following Wright’s challenge on Seymour, only for the referee to reverse his decision after consulting with his assistant. However, they did grab a consolation goal three minutes into stoppage time through Hall’s neat finish, but this couldn’t dampen an afternoon to remember for City.