Tiverton match

Great fun getting the train to Tiverton, finding that the station is 8 miles from the ground, bagging a taxi to get there just in time and then lose 5-0.

It was a strange match. The pitch was heavy to begin with and cut up rapidly. For the first 25 minutes, there was little difference between the teams - in fact City probably had the better of it. Then, before we could blink, we were 3-0 down. Every single goal was a cross from the right to an unmarked player in the box. City came back and Fox hit the post with a free kick and the rebound was scrambled off the line (it may have been just over it) just before half time. Our luck was out. I think we had more corners in the match than they did.

City couldn't be faulted for lack of effort, but we could have made better use of the some of the good positions we carved out. I'm afraid Nightingale's dead ball crosses were utterly atrocious - and Gutzmore contributed little, other than to get Wilkin's looping header over the keeper ruled out for offside because he (Leon) had chased it home and was thus interfering with play. If he had stayed back, we would at least have brought the score back to 3-1. Two late goals when the match was already lost just rubbed it in.

Despite the result, I don't think we need be too concerned. No sensible judgement can be made about the performance on such a quagmire pitch. Of course, the conditions were the same for both teams and Tiverton adapted much better than we did (they are probably used to it).

We need to write this off as a bad day at the ploughfield and start afresh from Tuesday. There will only be cause for worry if we fail to perform in the next two home matches.

If Dave reads this, I bought him a programme and will leave it at the supporters' club section in the bar on Tuesday.