Table topping City surge at Sixways

Match Report by Lewis Howarth

Following a dominant display against Stourport Swifts in the FA Vase, City headed back into league action looking to continue their title charge facing Longlevens AFC at Sixways Stadium.

City started the match in control with Kyle Belmonte picking out Liam Lockett who’s shot was inches away from opening the scoring for City. It was a mistake from Stoddart in the corner that allowed Dobbins for the opposition to pick out Shaun O’Connor with a first time finish in the 10th minute putting, Longlevens 1-0 up with their first chance of the match.

City stayed in control however with Elliott Hartley having his effort cleared off the line in the 20th minute.

It didn’t take City much longer to find a leveller with a stunning free kick from Liam Lockett in the 25th minute finding the top corner and putting City level.

A rocket from Lockett meant City headed into half-time level.

The second half couldn’t have started any better for City with Knight shooting from distance and finding the back of the net, only for the linesman to flag for offside due to a City body impairing the vision of the goalkeeper.

In the 60th minute Knight picked out Lockett with a brilliantly timed pass forcing the keeper to make a great save to keep the scoring level.

The visitors managed to keep City at bay for the next twenty minutes with tensions getting high. This resulted in two red cards in the 82nd minute with Hitchman and Layton both seeing red for a heated exchange.

Longlevens took every opportunity to frustrate City and slow the game down causing an additional ten minutes of added time to be played.

In the 100th minute City thought they had their winner with Monteith firing his chance over the bar. However City persevered and in the 112th minute they got their reward with Jordan Lymn picking up a loose ball on the edge of the box and firing it into the bottom corner with all 996 people in attendance screaming with joy!

City refused to surrender and now extend their lead at the top of the table by three points, still with three games in hand.