Parselle red card sets City on their way to Horsham defeat

A first red card in black and white for captain Kieran Parselle in first half stoppage time set City on their way to a 2-0 defeat against Horsham at a damp Cannon Clarke Stadium @ Twerton Park this afternoon.

City began the game on top, with Jordan Tillson firing narrowly over the bar after four minutes than a great block by Gravata denying Jake Tabor seven minutes later. Jordan Alves forced a fine stop by keeper Carey on 19 minutes before seeing another shot fly just the wrong side of the post a minute later. Having weathered this early pressure the visitors almost took a 26th minute lead but Harvey Wiles-Richards saved well from Hester-Cook with Joe Raynes brilliantly blocking Meekum’s follow up effort. The game settled into a more even contest after this and looked to be headed into the interval goalless. However, a minute into stoppage time a long ball forward was deliberately handled by Parselle just outside the box. The referee viewed it as denying a clear goalscoring opportunity and showed City’s captain a red card. And it got even worse for City when Hammond curled the free-kick into the top corner despite Wiles-Richards getting a hand to it.

Horsham took further advantage within eight minutes of the restart when a neat passing move ended up with Fenelon tapping the ball home from six yards. The Hornets were now content to retain possession, showing little intent to add to their two-goal advantage. A series of changes from the bench – with new signings Matt Bowman and Owen Windsor introduced for their debuts – gave City more attacking impetus. A 75th minute corner was cleared off the line then Windsor was denied by Carey a couple of minutes later. Despite a couple more late half-chances this would be as close as the Romans would come to setting up a tense end to the game.