Monday 3 May 2004 - Twerton Park - kick off 3.00pm Conference 2 Play-off

All this happened despite City getting off to another perfect start. Having scored just once in the first half in twenty games prior to their four game winning streak, City continued their ideal habit of grabbing an early goal. They had already looked threatening on a couple of occasions when Frankie Bennett collected the ball wide on the right. He burst through a couple of half-hearted challenges before switching the play to an unmarked Scott Partridge. Showing the confidence that has brought eight goals in his last three games he took the ball down then swept it past Bradshaw. It was all looking rosy for City as they continued to press and only desperate defending from the visitors kept the scoreline at 1-0. City did get a brief glimpse of what was to come when Paul Evans had to tip Brown’s speculative 35-yard effort over the bar. On 20 minutes Bobby Ford almost opened his City account with a deflected shot that dropped just wide. From the resultant corner Gary Owers saw his shot blocked and Jamie Cook – back in the side after recovering from his illness – blasted the rebound over the bar via another slight deflection. This miss signalled a change in the balance of the game although City’s cause was not helped when a crude challenge on Partridge (the only way Dorchester could stop him) left the striker struggling with a knee injury that would force him off early in the 2nd half. Missing player of the season Matt Coupe due to an ankle injury City’s rearguard was beginning to be stretched by Dorchester’s direct approach and three-man attack, though it was still with a slice of luck that they drew level after 28 minutes. Keeler raced on to Groves’ pass over the top but was denied by a stunning one-handed save by Evans. The keeper then bravely blocked Groves’ follow-up effort only for that rebound to drop to Holmes. He steadied himself before placing the ball between several City defenders into the net. Buoyed by this good fortune Dorchester could have won the game before the interval. Wood wasted a glorious chance from a Groves pass and Evans saved at the feet of Groves.

The half-time break should have given City the chance to regroup but within ten minutes of the restart they found themselves 3-1 down and without their top scorer. Just three minutes had passed when Groves sent Keeler free to fire past Evans. The knee injury inflicted on him in the first half saw Partridge limp from the action and before his replacement Tweddle had even touched the ball Groves latched onto Holmes’ flick to give Evans no chance. With nothing left to lose now City replaced Drew Shore with Jason Eaton and switched to three up front. This approach paid off with 16 minutes remaining. Tweddle’s strength carried him into the area and he stabbed the ball home from close range. Suddenly all but the 50 or so Dorchester fans in the 1250 crowd began to roar City on and twice their team went desperately close to taking the game into extra-time. Tweddle’s hooked shot dropped inches wide with Bradshaw beaten and then Bennett’s teasing cross had the Dorchester defence in panic only for Eaton to just fail to apply a touch at the far post. The understandable time-wasting actions of the visitors saw the game go well into stoppage time but, ironically, it was them who grabbed a goal during this period. Groves was initially trying to hold possession in the corner but when he broke free of a couple of challenges he had the space to pick out Brown who crashed the ball past a despairing Evans.