CITY had to roll their sleeves up and battle hard to earn a 1-0 victory over Lye Town in our first game of 2018.
It was a purposeful start by City and a neat move in the fifth minute saw Forsyth feed Tomkinson whose cross picked out Hughes but he was adjudged to be offside as he pulled the trigger.
Some pressure from the visitors required City to scramble clear in front of goal, whilst another raid shortly afterwards ended when Jamie Smith was alert to the danger before playing probing ball towards Danks who was denied by the visitors’ ‘keeper.
An inviting ball into the danger zone fell to Birch who tees up Tomkinson but his strike was saved.
Then a low drive from Birley with 24 minutes on the clock was kept out by the visiting ‘keeper who got down well.
A neat passage of play from City saw Danks cut inside from the right to link up with Birch and he in turn picked out Birley who fired well over.
The goal that we had threatened came on the half-hour mark when Hughes received the ball on the right-hand side of the area before lashing home.
As half-time approached, Tomkinson seized upon some sloppy play from the Lye defender and managed to get in a strike from a tight angle that saw the ‘keeper push the ball away.
There was still time at the end of the opening period for Vaughan to make a smart save as we held a single-goal advantage going into the break.
The first effort of the second half saw Thomas get in an effort that was tipped over by the ‘keeper as we continued to look the most likely side.
Some more trickery out wide by Tomkinson ended with his cross finding the head of Hughes who brought a save out of the ‘keeper.
As the hour-mark approached, calls for a penalty for handball were waved away as the game entered something of a lull with both sides cancelling each other out.
Chilton went close for the visitors as Vaughan thwarted him with Lye pushing for a leveller as the clock ticked down.
We managed to hold onto all three points in a contest that was far from a classic but it gave us three extremely welcome points against determined opposition.

CITY: Vaughan, Forsyth, J. Smith (Weir 46), Stoddart, Thomas, Hayward, Birley, Birch, Hughes, Danks (Reynolds 52), Tomkinson (M. Smith 81). Subs not used: Gwynne, Baldwin.

ATTENDANCE: 316.

PHOTO: Pete Wilcox.