SURPRISE SET-BACK

CITY suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at lowly Shawbury United.
It was a bright start from City as Lee Hughes went close early on after being played in by an intelligent ball from Josh Sarmento.
Despite looking the most likely side, there were very few chances at either end in the opening exchanges.
The home side managed to make the break-through on 16 minutes as they carved open the City back-line.
We looked to hit back straight away as Hughes linked up with Mark Danks whose volley was saved.
Danks was heavily involved in the next raid as he was brought down just as he looked to break into the area.
There was a definite edge creeping into the game with the tackles flying in and just before the half-hour mark Danks was shown a straight red card for his involvement.
It came as a surprise to most as we were forced to play for over an hour with ten men.
A half-chance for Hughes saw his strike lack the necessary power to trouble the ‘keeper but the equaliser did finally arrive on 37 minutes when Alex Tomkinson was in the right place to guide the ball home following a neat move.
We weren’t level for long as a speculative effort from the home side found its way beyond the dive of Tom Palmer to leave us trailing at the break.
With Dave Reynolds on at the break, it didn’t take him long to make an impact when he did well out wide before feeding Hughes who was just off target.
There was a blow when Jamie Smith was forced off through injury but we continued to push forward searching for a leveller.
Hughes was seeing plenty of the ball and giving the home defence plenty to think about as he led our charge forward.
The home defence was in stubborn mood as they defended for their lives to frustrate us.
As the clock ticked down, Matt Birley’s teasing corner saw the ‘keeper half-clear and as the ball fell to James Baldwin, he failed to make a proper connection and the chance was gone.
On 84 minutes Baldwin was presented with a great chance from a good position but somehow he fired over.
It was a let-off for the home side who, in fairness, worked their socks off from start to finish.
A late free-kick in a promising position for City was fired into the defensive wall as we came home on the end of a defeat.

CITY: Palmer, Fishwick, J. Smith (Mole 56), Albert, M. Smith, Hayward, Sarmento (Baldwin 67), Birley, Hughes, Danks, Tomkinson (Reynolds 46). Subs not used: Gwynne, Griffiths.