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Saturday 16 July 2005 - Twerton Park - kick off 3.00pm Pre-season Friendly 
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| half-time: 1-0 | result: W2-0 | attendance: 237 |
| team: | Evans (Welch 82), S Jones, Power, Holloway (Lapham 75), Coupe (York 60), Klukowski, Rollo (c) (Pearson 75), Ford (Newby 55), Partridge (Paul 45), Hulbert (Thomas 45), Sandall (Duggan 55). subs not used: Minnis |
| man of the match: | Paul Evans |
| scorers: | Partridge (23), Duggan (62) |
| bookings: | none |
| officials: | R Palmer, P Holbrow, K Holvey |
| league position: n/a | form: -----W | next match: Bristol City (H) |
City began their preparations for the 2005-06 Southern League season in positive style with a 2-0 victory over Redditch United at a hot and sunny Twerton Park. Fielding a side containing familiar faces, new signings, trialists and the pick of last season’s youth team, a goal in either half from Scott Partridge and Sam Duggan was enough to see off the challenge from the Conference North side. Included in the visitors line-up was last season’s top scorer for City, John Williams, and the 19-goal hitman was given an excellent ovation before the match.
City’s starting XI had a familiar feel about it, as only returning Jon Holloway and new signing Andy Sandell were not with the club last season. Holloway played alongside Matt Coupe in the centre of the defence with Steve Jones at right-back. This meant Jim Rollo was pushed up into midfield. Up front Partridge was partnered by Ricky Hulbert. Redditch, having already played one pre-season game, began brightly and pushed City back in the opening exchanges. On several occasions they built promising moves but Paul Evans wasn’t tested in the City goal. Gradually City began to see more possession with Sandell looking a threat down the left flank and the hard working Hulbert keeping the United defenders on their toes. And on 23 minutes it was the young striker’s run that set up Partridge to fire City into the lead with a neat shot. Redditch responded well, going close with a header after 33 minutes and forcing Evans into several smart stops. Their failure to draw level did see a few unfriendly challenges, with Partridge in particular on the end of a couple of unnecessary fouls.
Not surprisingly Partridge was withdrawn at the interval along with fellow striker Ricky Hulbert - trialist Danny Thomas and Martin Paul taking over. The second half began with Sandell seeing his header cleared off the line but for the next 15 minutes Redditch were largely camped in the City half. Murphy shot straight at Evans when well placed and then Field fired wide in a similarly good position. Just before the hour mark the visitors created their best opening. Neat build up play gave Rickards a shooting chance that Evans could only parry into the path of Murphy. It looked a certain goal only for Evans to produce a stunning point-blank stop and preserve City’s lead. This became even more vital a minute later as City went up the other end and scored again. The goal was made by Ben Newby, who had replaced Bobby Ford six minutes earlier, as his cross picked out Duggan. He cut in front of his marker and drilled a low shot under Redditch’s keeper. The remainder of the game was the usual flurry of substitutions as City introduced youth team players Alex Lapham, Stu Pearson and Eddie Welch and they comfortably held on to their lead to start the pre-season in ideal style.