Bishops Cleeve narrowly defeated

A solitary 80th minute strike from ace marksman, Steve Murray, was enough to send the travelling Blue Army into raptures, and his side into the 1st Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.
Wells, entering the illustrious competition for the first time, upset the odds by beating their Southern League rivals and now face the daunting task of a visit to Chippenham Town in the next round.
The contest was a dour affair throughout the 90 minutes, although in fairness to both sides, the swirling wind and a playing surface, which was far from the standard expected for Southern League football, did not help matters. The only noteworthy incident during the entire first half was a decent shout from the home side for a penalty when the Ben Higgins laid a palm on the ball inside the box, albeit that it was more of a case of ball to hand, rather than hand to ball, and it would have been harsh decision had the referee pointed to the spot.
Interest rose slightly when a passing Steam Train brought back memories of yester year, but apart from an injury to Club Skipper Kyle McErlain, who tweeked a back muscles just before half time and had to be replaced by Jamie Gowers at the break, there was little to report.
The second period wasn’t much better than the first, with City now having the cope with the swirling wind in their faces.
Jake Brown did well to turn and twist his way inside the box and appeared to be tripped, but the official was unimpressed and waved play to continue.
At the other end, the village side also had another appeal for a sport kick rejected, but the referee, who had a clear view of the incident, deemed it more of a collision between two competitive sportsmen, rather than an infringement of the rules.
With the game heading for a bore draw, and a replay back at the Athletics Ground, Steve Murray burst through from the half way line with 10 minutes remaining, to calmly break free and plant the ball into the back of the net. This had the desired affect as there was more action crammed into the final few minutes than the rest of the game put together.
As the Bishops pushed forward in search of an equaliser, large gaps began to open up in their defence, and City could, and should, have taken advantage. On two occasions, they had a three man overlap, but failed to make good use of the situation. Firstly Ross McErlain was guilty of not doing better, and then Murray over hit a pass which could have set up Mat Hurley for a strike on goal, but the forward over hit his pass.
The Southern League outfit also lost all discipline, and Mark Pritchard was shown a second Yellow Card within minutes of being shown his first for over aggressive behaviour, and this was duly accompanied by the mandatory Red.
A great result for the City, but apart from the score line, the contest will soon be forgotten.