Report | Day decides it on debut

City had to battle hard in order to make Isuzu FA Trophy progress, thanks to a 1-0 victory over Havant & Waterlooville.

After a cagey opening where we saw plenty of the early ball, a nice touch from King Baidoo out wide on the left found Marcus Day who curled an effort just wide on his City debut having arrived on a dual registration from Wealdstone in the lead-up to the game.

With ten minutes on the clock, Sopuruchukwu Obieri made room for a strike from distance that deflected just wide and as the corner came in dangerously, it was cleared at the second attempt.

As we kept the pressure on, Michael O’Regan found Joe Hanks who turned sharply inside the area only to see his effort well saved by Ferdinand in the visitors’ goal. The resulting corner caused more concern for the visitors as George Milner-Smith was well-positioned to clear off the line.

Harry Emmett’s ball into the area found Hanks who went down following a nudge in the back but the referee was quick to wave play on.

An inviting ball into the danger zone from Mitchell Roberts picked out Kieran Phillips who was unable to direct the ball goalwards.

The wind was playing its part as the opening period went on. A long ball from Jared Thompson was well taken by Baidoo who showed quick feet to tee up Hanks who missed his kick at the vital moment.

In the next raid, Obieri tried his luck once more, but was just off target.

As the half-hour mark approached, a corner was half-cleared to Ed Williams who was able to tee up Baidoo who hooked the ball well over.

The visitors had rarely threatened in an attacking sense. A teasing ball in from Leon Maloney was cleared before it was able to reach Oliver Pendlebury and then Harvey Bradbury’s flick found Maloney whose strike was saved without too many problems.

There was a need for us to quicken up the play as the clock ticked down in the opening period.

A powerful strike from Harvey Laidlaw forced a smart save out of Thompson with 43 minutes on the clock as the visitors started to get into their stride.

Good control on his chest from Baidoo ended with him getting the ball into the box from the by-line, but it just evaded Phillips, whilst at the other end Maloney saw a strike flash inches wide and from the corner that followed, the visitors went close with the last kick of the first half as it ended goalless.

City’s first chance of the second half saw some neat play on the edge of the area as Phillips linked up well with Hanks whose strike was well saved by Ferdinand.

A free-kick out wide for the visitors ended with the ball falling into the path of Ryan Seager whose effort saw Thompson save well.

There were a couple of changes made on the hour-mark as we searched for a spark with Harry Pinchard and Elis Watts both brought on and they were straight into the action to force an opening for Watts which was well-saved by the ‘keeper and as Watts looked to seize upon the rebound, shouts for handball were waved away.

A positive and pacy burst from Baidoo after he was set away by Marcus Day ended with him thwarted by Ferdinand. As we maintained the pressure, Hanks saw an attempt blocked for another corner as we upped the tempo.

Another neat move saw PInchard feed Baidoo who saw his strike blocked and as Watts picked up the loose ball, he too found a bank of white shirts in front of him before Pinchard’s strike was scrambled away from danger after Ferdinand made another save.

The wind caused Thompson all sorts of problems as a corner swirled into the danger zone. The danger ended when Brendon Willson hooked the ball over.

With the pendulum swinging back in favour of the visitors, we had to defend a couple of corners in quick succession and then a free-kick out wide was headed clear by Michael O’Regan.

On 80 minutes, Watts found Day with a neat pass but the new-boy couldn’t squeeze it in. The visitors were defending in numbers as Baidoo’s header at the far post hit the woodwork as the loose ball was cleared.

There was a blow when O’Regan was forced to limp out of the action as Ben Richards-Everton took his place.

The opening goal finally arrived on 85 minutes when Day was picked out on an over-lapping run and he coolly slotted home with a slick finish on his debut. It was a well-worked goal to give us the lead in this closely-fought encounter.

Into stoppage time and Day’s progress was halted just outside the area as Maloney saw red for the visitors as they got caught out pushing up in search of a leveller.

There was still time for Seager to go close for the visitors as he broke through, but we held on to make it into the hat for the next round. It wasn’t pretty but it was a case of job done.

CITY | J. Thompson, Jones, Roberts, O’Regan (Richards-Everton 83), Williams, Phillips (Watts 61), Hanks (Z. Pinchard 90), Day, Emmett, Baidoo, Obieri (H. Pinchard 61). Sub not used: C. Thompson.

Goal(s): Day (85)