A game of two halves

Two committed teams served up a good game on a chilly morning at Perdiswell with a dominant third quarter by North Somerset RTC ensuring that the points went back to the West Country.

The visitors - looking very comfortable on the ball - started brightly and forced home keeper Josh Reed-Jones into a couple of smart early saves.

Once City had settled, it was they who nearly grabbed the advantage when a quickly taken Matt Athey free-kick caught their opponents off-guard. He fed Santino Hosell, who rolled an inviting ball across the face of the goal that unfortunately none of his team-mates were able to react to.

As Q1 drew to a close, North Somerset took the lead with a break down the left and smart finish.

North Somerset's front two were proving a handful and Reed-Jones did well to force one of them wide when he burst through - the angle proving too tight to get his shot on target as it flashed wide.

With City's triumvirate of Guy Collett, Cian Sheehan and Archie Thurston getting a foothold in midfield, Q2 was fairly even and a good switch of play nearly created an equaliser chance but Billy Owen shot narrowly over.

The hosts were now enjoying their best phase of the contest which extended into Q3 when Collett and Owen combined to set up the tireless Jamie Neath who fired just over the angle.

But after further efforts by Owen and Collett, City will have been disappointed to concede four quickfire goals that swung the game emphatically in North Somerset's favour. Their striker latched onto a ball over the top to slot in the second before a trip in the box brought them a third from the penalty spot. An inch-perfect cross from the byline resulted in a close-range header and a clearance rebounded kindly for a somewhat fortunate fifth with the defence looking for an offside flag that never came.

As City tired, North Somerset netted a sixth within seconds of the start of Q4.

The home side almost grabbed a consolation after great determination by Thurston won the ball on the halfway line - the midfielder feeding Athey who crossed to the advancing Owen but, always stretching, his shot went wide.

Instead the final goal of the match went to the visitors when a cross from the right dropped to the edge of the box from where it was neatly struck into the bottom of corner.

Despite four players out injured or ill and another pulling up in the warm-up, City battled from first whistle to last but have now lost three matches on the bounce. They undoubtedly have the talent within the group to return to the form that achieved a five-game unbeaten run at the start of the JPL season and will undoubtedly be chomping at the bit to showcase that in their next fixture at Alvechurch on Saturday.