For about 75 minutes this was about as good a City performance as I have for a while away from home. Despite the massive Kevin Francis getting away with consistant foul play City had grafted themselves into a strong position.
Then two lucky goals,both of which would normally have been saved,the first a long range hit and hope from Francis,(a player who normally cannot hit the ball any distance)and it floats in over Martins head,the second a loping header which also dropped just under the bar. Then a overhit cross is banged back again and the 6'7" Francis wins his first meaningful header of the game to bag the winner.
Theres no justice sometimes.
Thats exactly my sentiment too Barclay, there is no justice in football. With City leading 2-0 after Tim Wooding`s freekick, the game was dead and buried. An ordinary Hednesford side had been comprehensively put to the sword and the points were in the bag, or so we thought.
What happened next was just like a piece of deja-vu. I`m thinking of the away game at Crawley last year , a very similar game where we managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
It was a traversty today that City didn`t even get a point from the game. The lads defended solidly, played some decent football all over the park, and were dangerous on the break. Leon Gutzmore and Darren Collins are shaping up well as a partnership. Collins had his best game so far and Leon is far removed from the player who finished last season. He`s aggressive and always looking to get on the end of things and his goal today was a classy finish after good work from Clements (they couldn`t catch him) The last 20 minutes or so today was nightmarish. Theres very little anyone can do when a beanpole striker (Francis) wafts his boot at the ball from outside the box and his potshot goes straight in the top corner, give him another 100 goes and he wouldn`t find the target. That turned the game although even at the death I thought we`d hand on for a deserved draw, but the ball had to fall straight onto the head of their 7ft6 striker, he didnt need to jump to convert it. It never rains but it pours !
Even though we`ve lost the first threee, its NOT a crisis by a long chalk, all the lads have to do is keep their heads, keep playing the way they are and the results will come. Today we were the controlling team for 70 of the 90 minutes , switched off and got stung.
Monday against Chelmsford, lets put one in the win column
yeh u should have won 36-0 and had no luck at all even your deflected free kick for the 2nd goal!!
But yes u were unlucky and a draw would have been a fair result as we did have a few chances--honest we did!!
But this time last season we had no points and no luck so perhaps it's time something went our way after 3 seasons of sheer struggle!
Good luck for the rest of the season except when u play us soon and i'm sure if u continue to graft like today you will soon be out of trouble!
Even at 2-0 up with 20 minutes left, some of us could see what was coming. For some reason, we sat back and allowed Hednesford to come at us, when we had caused much more trouble by taking the game to them (which is why we went 2-0 up). Someone (couldn't see who) could have cleared before Francis's equaliser - which itself was a one in a thousand shot from way out which he will never repeat in his career. Then, at 2-2, taking Gutzmore off for Nightingale was putting up the white flag - it said loud and clear that we were no longer interested in winning the game but wanted to hold on for a draw - which led to a predictable late winner.
Overall, we deserved at least a draw. Provided the players aren't demotivated by today's events, we should be OK in the long term. If we play like we did for the first hour today, we will beat most teams - hopefully starting on Monday.