Staurday 12 April 2003 - Twerton Park - kick off 3.00pm Dr Martens Premier Division

The two week break since their last outing - the 1-1 draw with Ilkeston Town - allowed goalkeeper Mark Bryant to recover sufficiently from his shoulder injury to reclaim his place between the sticks. The other two changes from that game saw Stuart James replace injured Frankie Bennett and Dan Cleverley start alongside the player he replaced in that match, Steve Tweddle. So the game started and for 40 minutes it may as well not have. Understandably Grantham showed little or no attacking instinct leaving it up to City to make all the running. And they provided to be sadly lacking in this role. It wasn't until the 23rd minute that either keeper was called into serious action. A couple of Drew Shore free-kicks had been the only highlight up to this point and it was another one from his silver clad right foot that picked out Gary Kemp. His header was well directed but Ziccardi was there to tip it over the bar. From the resultant corner Matt Coupe glanced a header wide. In an effort to inject some life into City's abject showing Alan Pridham moved Paul Milsom up front and played Cleverley just behind him and Tweddle. The impact was hardly immediate but with five minutes remaining before the interval it was City's captain who helped break the deadlock. James's quickly taken throw was flicked on by Milsom and Tweddle powered a header toward the top corner. Ziccardi did get a hand to it but couldn't prevent it crossing the line. Within a minute it got even worse for the Gingerbread's keeper. Wenlock's error just inside his own half allowed Tweddle to race clear. He easily rounded Ziccardi only for the keeper to cynically bring him down. The referee immediately pointed to the spot and had no other option than to show him a red card. Midfielder McDaid took over the goalkeeping duties and, as is so often the case in these events, his first task was to be beaten by Tweddle's penalty. Tweddle almost completed a five-minute hat-trick, Jim Rollo's low cross just eluding him, but after what had gone before City were more than content with their 2-0 half-time lead.

The game was clearly there for the taking and within 10 minutes of the restart City went three up. Coupe began the move that continued with a surging run from Rollo. It ended with him laying off a simple pass to Andy Williams and he took one touch before firing a slightly deflected shot into the roof of the net. This was Williams's last involvement as a calf injury forced him off to be replaced by debutant youth star Simon Gilbert. Even the player-of-the-season elect's absense should have not stopped City running away with the game but three minutes later the visitors pulled a goal back. Ranshaw's flick found top scorer Bull and his looping volley gave Bryant no chance. Suddenly Grantham sensed an unlikely comeback and began to throw men forward in numbers. Rather than taking advantage of this gung-ho approach City began to panic, time and again giving the ball back to their orange-clad opponents. James's last-ditch tackle on Wilson prevented a clear opening and Speed should have done better than head wide after 65 minutes as the pressure began to build. Tweddle did shoot straight at McDaid and sub Chris Honor volleyed a James corner well wide but this was a rare break in proceedings. Bull headed another cross over on 76 minutes and then saw Bryant produce an excellent one-handed save from his low shot. With eight minutes remaining the inevitable second goal arrived. Bull's shot crashed against the bar and the ball fell perfectly to Hall to head home. With all City fans now expecting the worse it was definitely brown trousers time. In the event the closing minutes passed without Grantham creating another clear-cut chance although several efforts were desperately blocked. In fact twice City had men over on a break only to fail to take advantage. The almost apathetic reaction to the final whistle from the City faithful showed what they thought of the performance and it was left to the small band of Grantham fans to give their battling players a deserved send-off.