HONOURS EVEN IN THE SNOW

CITY played out a 1-1 draw in snowy conditions at Loughborough University.
There were loud appeals for a City penalty early on when James Baldwin threaded a ball through for Alex Tomkinson whose progress was halted as he entered the area. The referee waved away the appeals as the game continued.
Shortly afterwards, Baldwin caused more problems inside the area but as he looked to play in Dave Reynolds, the home defence was able to scramble clear.
It was all City in the opening exchanges and Tomkinson had the ball in the back of the net only for the celebrations to be cut short by an offside flag.
Despite looking the most likely side, we fell behind against the run of play when Ben Last was allowed to make progress before getting in a low strike that found its way beyond Nathan Vaughan.
As we tried to hit back, Mat Birley saw a strike saved, whilst at the other end of the field, Eric Duah went close as he dragged his strike just wide.
With 23 minutes on the clock, Reynolds went close as he managed to get in a shot on goal that flashed just wide of the post.
Then a corner from City saw Reynolds put a header wide before two great chances came our way in quick succession as firstly Brad Birch did well to carve an opening for Birley whose shot from a tight angle lacked the necessary power.
From a similar position, Nathan Hayward then saw his attempt tipped over as the home side managed to hold on to their lead.
It was all City as George Forsyth did well out wide before getting in a teasing cross that was headed behind for a corner that came to nothing.
We were playing in blizzard conditions as the opening period came to a close. Forsyth put a free-kick wide whilst a succession of corners put the home side under plenty of pressure.
The half ended with Birley going close as we went in trailing 1-0 at the break.
There was another strike from Birley that was straight at the ‘keeper and the custodian was in action again in the next raid by saving Reynolds’ attempt.
With just under 20 minutes to go, we were awarded a penalty when Tomkinson was brought down by Last and substitute, Mark Danks, stepped up to coolly slot home to level matters.
Boosted by the goal, we went in search of the winner and Birch linked up with Danks who was just beaten to the ball by the alert ‘keeper.
Our hosts still looked a threat on the counter-attack but our back-line held firm to keep them at bay and when they were beaten, Vaughan was on hand to save.
As the clock ticked down, Ambalu came on for his debut and with virtually his first touch, he saw his strike deflected just wide.
From the resulting corner, Jordan Stoddart rattled the woodwork and from the rebound, Ambalu couldn’t force the ball home from close range. It was a let-off for the hosts who breathed a huge sigh of relief.
In the final minute a free-kick in a promising position following a foul on Forsyth saw the ball delivered onto the head of Birch from Tomkinson but his attempt landed inches wide.
Despite our best efforts, we failed to find a winning goal and had to settle for a share of the spoils in tricky conditions.

CITY: Vaughan, Forsyth, J Smith, Stoddart, M Smith, Hayward, Birley (Ambalu), Birch, Baldwin (Turton), Reynolds (Danks), Tomkinson. Subs not used: Gwynne, Hall.