about the tigers   about tiger roar   commercial info   appearances   fixtures & results   recent goals   table   adie harris   alex allard   alex sykes   ashley thomas   callum preece   dan wixey   elliott seddon   jack pitcher   jamie reid   jody bevan   jody taylor   kev sawyer   lee smith   marc richards   matt rose   matt sysum   matt walsh   neil mustoe   sam ellis   tom hamblin   tom webb   will morford   tim harris   david mehew   ade tandy   lee randall   dr bob byrne   player archive   tigerimages   fixtures   archive   city history   county cup   fa cup   fa trophy   fan photos   league cup   league history   opponents   season in photos   statistics   tr archive   video clips   citizen sport   official website   sl website   slp links   t-ender   tiger videos   city open forum   contact  Match Report : Team Bath v's City - April 12th 2008 Gloucester City’s slim hopes of securing a playoff place are now hanging by a thread following this disappointing reversal at Twerton Park. Youngster Matt Sysum was restored to the heart of defence where he’d be tested by league top scorer Sean Canham whilst in the same position for the hosts was Ollie Barnes, a defender who’d featured for the Tigers on loan from Bristol Rovers a year earlier. City couldn’t have asked for a better start as the sun shone down over Bath. A wind assisted kick from goalkeeper Kev Sawyer caused problems in the Team Bath defence and it was cleared only as far as Lee Smith whose speculative shot from the edge of the penalty area made a fool of goalkeeper Jake Edwards and rolled into the empty net. Just before the quarter hour it was two, the goal once again emanating from a Sawyer kick. This time the ball fell to Alex Sykes, a player who never needs a second invite to shoot and Edwards’ parry was seized upon by Will Morford who laid it back to Smith to thrash home a shot into the roof of the net for a goal that was a near copy of the third at Brackley in January. The unpredicted lead not only sent the Tigers fans into raptures but one could be sure that the cheers were just as loud at Halesowen and Kings Lynn too. However Bath continued to press and centre-half Marc Richards can count himself lucky that he was only booked after what looked like a cynical trip on Joe Arnold as he strode past him. Arnold made no mistake when he broke through for a second time as he rode challenges from Sysum and Neil Mustoe before planting a firm shot inside Sawyers far post leaving the City keeper standing. A minute later a cross by left winger Takumi Ake evaded a mass of bodies in the City area and Mustoe poked it narrowly wide of the far post when it looked like it might be his second own goal in two games. But two minutes before the break City’s naivety had been fully exposed after an Alex Sykes shot was blocked with a hand and the appeals to the Cheltenham referee fell on deaf ears as a Team Bath break saw Canham feed the unmarked Ake at the far post to poke the ball beyond Sawyer. City almost replied immediately when a snapshot from Matt Walsh brought the best out of Edwards but it wasn’t to be as the keeper deflected the ball over the crossbar. A flurry of substitutions in the second half seemed to help the full timers much better than City and it led to a third goal when a direct cross field pass was headed back into the path of the dangerous Canham who volleyed into the ground and saw his shot bounce high past the despairing grasp of Sawyer into the far corner of the net. In the dying minutes even Sawyer appeared in attack as City looked for an equaliser but in all fairness the Tigers had struggled to create many chances all afternoon and substitute Cooper sealed the victory with an injury time tap in after Canham had ghosted through the challenges of two defenders to cross low to the near post. City : Kev Sawyer, Matt Walsh (Jody Bevan 73), Alex Sykes (Jamie Reid 58), Neil Mustoe, Matt Sysum (Alex Allard 45), Marc Richards, Matt Rose, Tom Webb, Jack Pitcher, Will Morford, Lee Smith. Subs Not Used : Adie Harris, Elliott Seddon. Booked : Marc Richards (23 – Foul) Goals : Lee Smith (3 & 14) Team Bath : Jake Meredith, Adi Adams, Ollie Barnes, Steve Abbott, Gary Warren, Sami El-Abd, Danny Wring (Mike Perrott 66), Dan Dillon, Joe Arnold, Sean Canham, Takumi Ake (Matt Cooper 62) Subs Not Used : Adam Green, Marc Canham, Simon Cooper Booked : Dan Dillon (38 – Dissent), Joe Arnold (40 – Dissent), Matt Cooper (81 – Dissent) Goals : Joe Arnold (34), Takumi Ake (42), Sean Canham (71), Matt Cooper (90) Attendance : 225 Tim Harris Interview Photo Gallery Page last updated : 16th April 2008 Tiger Roar is an unofficial, independant production. It has nothing to do with Gloucester City AFC 1980 Ltd, Gloucester City Ladies FC or the Gloucester City Supporters Trust. All comments expressed on here (unless stated) are those of the author and not those of the football club. All content on this site is copyright of the site owner and must not be reproduced without prior permission (unless waived by the author). Please do not use or remotely link to any of the images or videos on this site. Images used without permission will be subject to a £50.00 charge. I would like to express thanks to everyone who has helped make this website possible through donations, images, video clips and information. If you feel I have used your own copyrighted material and would like it removed, please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss it's removal. Above all, enjoy the website and please come back for more!