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One down four to go. It was a simple equation for City as they welcomed already relegated Salisbury City to Twerton Park. Victory = everthing. Performance = nothing. And thankfully for City they produced the first while the Wiltshire side comfortably managed the second. Missing unfit captain Colin Towler, Gary Kemp, Paul Milsom and Dave Gilroy, plus top scorer Adrian Foster struggling with a calf injury it should never have been as easy a victory as it turned out, albeit it took an own goal to settle the contest. However, to the obvious fustration of their own fans Salisbury simply rolled over and died after Emms had put the ball into his own net. This was summed up in stoppage time as trailing by a single goal to a clearly nervous opponent they were in no hurry to take goal kicks or throw-ins, just looking desperate to get off the pitch as soon as possible. On a firm bumpy pitch quality football was always going to be at a premium. And the conditions were not helped by a strong wind and overfussy referee. Mr Green of Berkeley had clashed with City manager Alan Pridham before but fortunately this time his decisions left both sides equally baffled and did not directly influence the outcome of the match. The first opening of the game fell to Foster after 14 minutes when his well-struck shot was held by kepper Bittner low down to his left. This was followed four minutes later by the visitors best chance. Moores' corner was turned toward goal by Emms only for Andy williams to clear the ball from the goalline. From this escape it was almost entirely City although clear cut openings were still few and far between. Cleverley saw one effort blocked away for a corner after good approach play by Drysdale and Hale, before Drysdale tested Bittner from a 25 yard free-kick. The half hour mark saw Williams' defence splitting pass send Foster clear on goal. He could only shoot straight at Bittner but seconds later he was bearing down on the keeper again. This time he elected to cross the ball toward Cleverley but before it could reach the striker Emms had intervened and stabbed it gently into his own net. In their position City were happy to take anything offered and nearly doubled their lead before the break when Bittner only grabbed Drysdale's swerving shot at the second attempt. The second half saw the wind favour the visitors but little changed and it was still clear that if a second goal was to arrive it would be for City. They did receive two setbacks within a couple of minutes when Redwood and Foster were forced from the action with injury to be replaced by Lee Collier and Gary Smart. On 62 minutes City briefly thought they had scored the vital second goal when Drysdale's free-kick beat everyone before finding the corner of the net. A linesman's flag bought the celebrations to a premuture halt and a minute later Salisbury had a rare chance to level the scores. The ball broke kindly to Harbutt six yards from Hervin's goal but, in fitting with his teammates performance, he could only shoot tamely at Hervin. This was the final resistance the Whites produced and City were content to play out time, although Thorne had a strong penalty claim turned down after he was hauled to the ground by Bittner (the referee awarded a free-kick to the keeper and then booked him!) and Drysdale saw yet another free-kick strike the outside of the post. |
