Second half turnaround sees City suffer Gosport home defeat

City were beaten 2-1 by Gosport Borough this afternoon at Cannon Clarke Stadium @ Twerton Park. A first half Matt Bowman header had given the Romans the lead at the interval but two second half goals saw the visitors deservedly secure the three points.

City showed no signs of rustiness from their eleven day lay-off as they dominated the opening ten minutes. Bowman flashed a 20-yard shot narrowly wide on four minutes, then two minutes later Reuben Reid got in behind the Borough defence but Holden blocked his effort. Enzio Boldewijn then hit a 25-yard free kick just wide of the post with Holden beaten. City had an escape on 15 minutes when a low drive from the edge of the box beat Harvey Wiles-Richards but, after initially awarding the goal, the referee consulted with his assistant and ruled it out for offside. City broke the deadlock in the 22th minute when Bowman headed home Boldewijn’s free-kick for his third goal in as many games. Two minutes later another Boldewijn cross picked out Callum Wood but he couldn’t beat Holden with his header. A clearer offside decision on 26 minutes chalked off another ‘goal’ for Gosport but they finished the half looking the stronger side.

And they carried this improvement into the second period when on 52 minutes Billy Bodin’s – son for former City legend Paul – header back across goal hit the inside of the post with the linesman adjudging it had crossed the line before Wiles-Richards clawed it away. City were unlucky not to regain the lead five minutes later when Reid saw his shot hit the post but it was Borough who were asking all the questions now. Wiles-Richards produced a stunning double save just before the hour mark, diverting Penn’s shot against the post then blocking Bodin’s close-range follow-up. City were struggling to retain possession and it took a great Ollie Tomlinson block to deny Bodin on 80 minutes. However, two minutes later Vilhete’s cross was headed home by Campbell at the back post. A minute later Scott Wilson was denied by Holden’s legs then Alex Fisher saw his shot superbly tipped over by the keeper. The final chance for City to rescue a point came in stoppage time when Wiles-Richards came up for a free-kick and saw his header loop just over the bar.