FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round
Saturday 16 September 2006 - Twerton Park - kick off 3.00pm
half-time: 0-0 result: D0-0 attendance: 567
team: Evans, Rollo (c), S Jones, Coupe, Holland, Green (Davidge 66), Rogers (Clarke 75), Hogg, Pritchard (Pepperell 61), Partridge, McKeever. subs not used: York, Holloway.
man of the match: Matt Coupe
scorers: none
bookings: Rogers (43), Clarke (77)
dismissal: Coupe (78)
officials: D Eaton (Tewkesbury), R Thomas (Worcester), P Harding (Worcester)
league position: n/a form: dWLWDd next match: Tiverton (A) (FAC)
Report taken from by Richard Gadsby

It had the passion, it had the controversy, but City's dour draw with Tiverton was anything but an FA Cup classic. The game itself is best summed up by the scoreline, but there were plenty of other talking points to keep the Twerton Park faithful distracted, not least the late sending off of Matt Coupe for a reckless tackle on Jamie Mudge that spelled the end of the game for both players. Once again it was the referee's performance that was, somewhat unfairly, put under the microscope after a game of few chances. The man in black hardly helped himself, though. Some frankly ridiculous decisions with throw-ins and corners, and a tendency to dish out cheap free-kicks, hardly warmed him to a home crowd who were otherwise eerily quiet even by Twerton Park standards.

The two sides seemed to cancel each other out in the early stages. Chris Holland fired the game's first clear shot tamely into keeper Mark Rock's hands after four minutes and Tiverton striker Mudge hit a meek effort to Paul Evans shortly after. A goalbound Darren Davies free-kick was plucked from under the crossbar by Evans after 15 minutes as Tiverton started to take the initiative, but City responded with the move of the match when Lewis Hogg started and finished a surging run forward with a weak shot straight at the keeper. It looked like the game might move up a gear, but, instead, it turned into a midfield scrap with neither side creating much else in front of goal before half-time. The pace picked up after the break.

A nice one-two between Justin Pritchard and Scott Partridge on the edge of the box led to the latter forcing Rock into a solid stop just a couple of minutes after the restart. Steve Jones blasted wide from the edge of the area after a nice lay-off from Partridge on 55 minutes, but the game's best chance fell to Tiverton's Steve Flack with 20 minutes to go. A low cross from the left somehow found its way past the diving Evans at the near post and, with the goal at his mercy, Flack rushed his shot and spooned the ball over the bar from ten yards. The match did spring into life in the last ten minutes, but for all the wrong reasons. After a series of harsh challenges from Tiverton throughout the game, Coupe responded with the worst of the bunch on 78 minutes. His full-blooded sliding tackle was only milli-seconds late, but he crashed through Mudge's standing leg like a hairy Polaris-missile. Coupe deservedly saw red and Mudge was immediately substituted. With full-time fast approaching, City very nearly stole a winner when Holland headed just over from a Mark McKeever corner. And in injury time they were on the beneficial end of a debatable decision when Tiverton were denied a very strong penalty claim for a trip on Paul Wyatt. A late winner would have been harsh on either side, if only because neither had done enough to win it, and, strangely, both teams will feel they have a better chance of victory in tomorrow night's replay.