18 yard box proves no goal area!

Yet again it was a case of the White Tigers having as much of the play as the opposition but not turning anything into goals!

City’s Chief Coach, Glynn Hooper, summed up the frustration perfectly after the match : “Disappointing. The 18 yard box is where games are won and lost and unfortunately today for us, defensively they defended their 18 yard box ever so well and the chances that they did create, which were few and far between, they took, where we didn’t take ours and that’s the basis of the game!

“You can have all the possession in the world, you can have all the territory in the world, but we left ourselves a difficult task by conceding the first one, which we gifted them again and then you end up chasing the game. The second goal we’ve gone three at the back and they’ve had a lucky break and finished it off, but we haven’t scored and you’re not going to win games without scoring.”

After only 12 seconds Les Afful, one of five changes from Tuesday’s defeat at Chippenham, forced Biggleswade’s goalkeeper Ian Brown to make a save, but for most of the first half, that was perhaps the closest we came to scoring.

Despite the possession, it was once again the visitors that went ahead. In the 19th minute Sam Reed made it look so simple when he was allowed to come inside of his defender and curl the ball into the far top right corner of Ollie Chenoweth’s goal to give Biggleswade a vital breakthrough. From then on, with only three league defeats suffered all season, our task was going to be a tough one in breaking them down.

This was confirmed with Brown not really being seriously troubled until seconds before the half-time whistle when a well-hit shot from Ben Watson forced him into a great close range save.

Unchanged after the break, we again took the game to the opposition with Watson having an effort disallowed for offside before another effort from the City No. 9 was stopped by Brown and from the loose ball Afful hit the post with an overhead kick.

From then on though the visitors’ defence ruled things and never really allowed us another chance. Substitutions meant we went to a three man back line and inevitably gaps developed as we went for the elusive equalizer and in the 87th minute Craig Daniel found the ball at his feet after a fortunate block and made no mistake to shoot home under Chenoweth for their second.

Final word from the coach Hooper : “We’ve got to be more ruthless in the final third, more positive in the final third, a bit braver in the final third and I don’t mean putting your head in where it hurts, but with certain passes, I think we play very, very safe in the final third where you’ve got to take risks. That was the thing at half-time, we said you’ve got take that pass at times which is a risky pass, but the rewards are big. So that’s on the offensive side. Defensively, we’ve just got to make right decisions, and that comes with a little bit of experience about making right decisions at the right time and we’re not doing that.

“So we’ve just got to keep talking to the players and passing on our experience to them and you then pull things together. But we keep saying we’re not a million miles away and there’s not a side in this league that I’ve looked at and thought they are a little bit special. There’s still an awful long way to go in this season!”

The trip continues with a game on Tuesday at Hungerford.

CITY: Chenoweth; Tully, Daw (Brokenshire 75), Kendall, D Evans, Broad, Cooke, J Lowry, Watson, Afful (Copp 81), Slateford (Eddy 68).
Subs (not used): White, Pearce.

Biggleswade Town: Brown; York, Coulson, Mawer, Gentle, Smith, Daniel, Key, S Reed (Lewis 69), Peacock (Donnelly 81), L Reed.
Subs (not used): Iwediuno, Witham

Yellow Card : L Reed