Saturday 4 January 2003 - Twerton Park - kick off 3.00pm Dr Martens Premier Division

With vital midfielder Jamie Gosling suffering from a reoccurance of his ankle problem in the pre-match warm-up City were forced into one change to the side that beat Crawley Town a week earlier. Former Bristol Rovers youngster Drew Shore replaced Gosling for his first start in City colours. The 20-year midfielder took his chance well and his accurate passing was the highlight of an otherwise dull first half. An early snap shot by Dan Cleverley that drifted well wide was City's first sight of the visitors goal before Moor Green's Elmes also failed to hit the target from Evans's corner. The 16th minute saw Shore's first telling impact on the game as his through ball sent Williams racing toward goal. He easily beat the last man Woodley but on the heavy pitch failed to keep control and the danger was cleared. The Birmingham-based side were content to get numbers behind the ball and look to catch City on the break. Other than a Jim Rollo header and another Cleverley shot City never looked likely to find a way through the massed ranks of yellow and green. Having suffered 40 minutes of fairly non-eventful football the 678 crowd witnessed both sides waste great chances to score before the break. The clearest fell to Moor Green when they broke forward with pace. Martin's long pass forward picked out an unmarked Woodley. Just six yards out the finish looked a formality but to the disbelief of all his teammates he blasted the ball high over the bar. Four minutes later City should have punished him further for this miss. James's low cross picked out Cleverley only for the youngster to scuff his shot just wide of the post.

The second half began with Martin forcing the first save of the game out of City's Mark Bryant but it was City who began to gain the upper hand. Gary Kemp tested Rachel on 48 minutes and Eaton shot wide a minute later. This misses were forgotten after 52 minutes when City took the lead. Eaton's shot from 20 yards didn't appear to have the pace to beat Rachel only for the keeper to allow it to squirm past him and creep into the net. Rollo fired another effort over the bar five minutes later as City looked to finsh the game. Williams almost did this when Hughes poor clearance fell to him only for Rachel to redeemn himself somewhat by blocking the shot with his legs. The 63rd minute saw Eaton sent clear by Williams's pass only to delay his shot and allow Rachel to save. Rollo was forced from the action moments later following a late challenge to be replaced by Chris Honor. The Moors also made a trio of changes as they sensed the game was far from over. Other than a lobbed shot from Blake that fell wide City's defence stood firm and it looked like they would hold on as the game reached its closing minutes. However, a Myers shot was deflected just over on 88 minutes and from the resultant corner the equaliser arrived. Evans's centre was headed down by Sanders and Martin was able to turn and fire a shot into the roof of the net. Elmes's volley almost heaped more misery on City in stoppage time but this would have been robbery on the same scale as the first match.