Friday 26 December 2003 - Twerton Park - kick off 3.00pm Dr Martens Premier Division

With Andy Williams, Mitch Counsell, Russell Milton and Drew Shore all still sidelined through injury City went into the match with a unchanged side from the one that lost at Crawley Town six days earlier. And the early exchanges also mirrored that game as after an uneventful opening City began to slowly gain the upper hand. This slight advantage saw Jason Eaton drag a shot wide of the right post and fail to trouble keeper Fraser with another half chance. At the back City were looking reasonably comfortable with Jim Rollo and Owers forming a solid wall in front of the back four. This was only breached once on 20 minutes when Nancekevill was suddenly racing clear after Jenkins slipped in the increasingly wet conditions. He advanced on Ryan Northmore before squaring it toward the incoming Chenoweth. It looked a formality to score but somehow the ex-City midfielder failed to make contact and the danger passed. However, from nothing five minutes later Tivvy took the lead. A long ball forward looked to be covered by Mike Trought but as Northmore came racing from goal he was suddenly exposed and only managed to lift the ball over the advancing keeper. Nancekivell latched onto the loose ball and despite Matt Coupe’s efforts fired it into the empty net. Fortunately before City had time to start feeling sorry for themselves, after this piece of suicidal defending, they levelled. Frankie Bennett drifted wide from his centre-forward position to take on Power. He beat him with ease and drove a low centre across goal. Fraser’s attempt to claim the cross only parried into the path of Darren Hawkins and he shot home from 16 yards. This was as good as it got for City in the first half as the Devon side controlled possession, although only a Holloway shot that Josh Jeffries cleared off the line came close to restoring their lead.

There was little change to the proceedings into the second half as Tiverton made light work of the increasingly monsoon-like conditions to play some of the best football seen at Twerton this season. Time and again they ran at the City defence only for some last ditch blocks to deny them. Northmore almost handed them the lead when he was beaten to a high ball by Paul Milsom. The former City striker failing to guide his header on target. City’s only respite to this pressure came from a number of unnecessary fouls by Tiverton’s weakest looking area, their centre-backs. However, they failed to make these set-pieces count. It only looked a matter of time before the visitors struck and Holloway came within an inch of this when his 69th minute shot was deflected narrowly wide. Then two minutes later they did score but not in the net they wanted. Eaton held the ball up well before freeing Bennett. He carried it forward and whipped in a firm cross that Rees, with Hawkins poised to apply the vital touch behind him, could only blast past Fraser. City now had twenty minutes to defend this surprise lead and showing the sort of determination that hasn’t always been evident this season they succeeded. Not without a few nervous moments though. Several times they struggled to clear their lines and one such occasion saw the ball drop to Mudge six yards out. He had whole goal to aim at but could only fire a shot straight at Northmore. The City keeper was showing some good handling in the tricky conditions and he also denied a well-placed Winter. Several late challenges and almost constant complaining at the referee underlined Tiverton’s frustrations but as the game reached the 90th minute it looked as if all City’s efforts would be undone when Milsom ran clear. He skipped past Northmore but showing all the composure in front of goal he had during his two years with City he failed to get a shot in and the keeper recovered to scramble the ball away. Shortly afterwards the final whistle went and City were assured of the perfect Christmas present and, hopefully, the start of their climb from the basement of the league.