TUDOR TALK

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Saturday 6th October
Southern League Premier Division
Gloucester City 0 Hemel Town 0 (Played at Forest Green Rovers FC)

Due to the summer floods that wrecked Gloucester’s own ground, this match was switched to Conference side Forest Green’s stadium in the picturesque town of Nailsworth.
Hemel - coming off two straight defeats - started the game at a fast pace and should have had a penalty within five minutes when defender Marc Richards handled as he lay on the floor. But with the referee badly placed to see, the Tudors were denied the spot kick and this really set the tone for Hemel’s luck in the first half.
On the quarter hour Chris Herron sent Drew Roberts to the by-line and his cross to the far post found the head of an unmarked Paul Edgeworth, but he looped his header against the crossbar and the ball bounced away to safety.
A minute later Edgeworth then wasted a second opportunity, when on loan striker Chris Dillon’s shot was blocked by home keeper Kevin Sawyer - the ball rebounding to the Tudor skipper ten yards out. But with an open goal yawning in front of him Edgeworth snatched at his shot and the ball swept harmlessly past the far post with room to spare.
Gloucester for their part were hitting on the break, with Lee Smith in particular proving to be a thorn in Hemel‘s side, and it was the winger who brought a good stop out of keeper Ian Brown early on, before setting up striker Jack Pitcher who made Brown earn his keep again on twenty minutes.
But all the early excitement now began to fade as both sides tightened up defensively, and good chances from then on came few and far between.
Half chances for Roberts (twice) and a long range effort from Edgeworth were all Hemel had to show for next twenty minutes until a cracking strike from Roberts shortly before the break forced Sawyer to push the ball up onto his bar - the ball then drifting over.
But as is becoming more and more usual these days, Hemel then wasted yet another opportunity to get the ball into a dangerous area with a short corner routine that didn’t work (it rarely does!) and the half ended with City on the break and Alex Sykes firing over Brown’s bar from eighteen yards.
The second half saw the home side come out the quicker, and for ten minutes or so put Hemel on the back foot, a position from which they never really recovered.
On fifty six minutes Yiadom Yeboah was lucky to receive only a yellow card for a foul on Pitcher, and from that point on the defender seemed to tread softly as City players went to ground early around him for seemingly little contact.
Smith again missed a good opening just after the hour when a mistake by Nathan Bowden-Haase gave him the ball fifteen yards out, but now the Tigers themselves seemed to run out of ideas as to what to do next.
On sixty five minutes Herron once more sent Roberts into the box, but unfortunately although the striker managed to slip his shot under the advancing Sawyer, it carried very little weight, and this allowed Richards enough time to race back and slide the ball clear off his line.
Edgeworth then just failed to connect at the far post with Ollie Burgess’ cross, but that proved to be the end of the scoring chances for the away side as they too now ran out of ideas. This means that Hemel have now failed to score in the last three matches, the situation not helped by a seeming reluctance on the part of some players to pull the trigger when an opening presents itself.
City were reduced to ten men when with ten minutes left when Jamie Price received a straight red card for a lunging tackle on Edgeworth, but even the extra man proved to be no advantage, and the draw in the end was probably just about the right result.
Despite the dropped points the Tudors stay second in the division, with trips to mid-table Bedford on Tuesday night and league leaders Brackley on Saturday to come this week.

Hemel Town:
Ian Brown, Simon Sweeney, Mark Coulson, Chris Herron (Jamie Kearns), Nathan Bowden-Haase, Yiadom Yeboah, Ollie Burgess, Matt Gearing, Chris Dillon, Drew Roberts (Garry Sippetts), Paul Edgeworth (Robbie Kean). Subs (Not Used): Danny Nichols Jnr & Luke O’Connell

Gloucester City:
Kevin Sawyer, Chris Thompson, Alex Allard, Neil Mustoe, Lyndon Tompkins, Marc Richards, Lee Smith (Jamie Reid), Matt Rhodes, Jack Pitcher (Jody Bevan), Jamie Price, Alex Sykes (Tom Webb). Subs (Not Used): Michael Whittington & Ade Harris.