Well in the end today's reserve game proved to be a fitting follow up to yesterday's memorable win, but for the first seventy minutes you would never have guessed it!
With players like Alexander, Weston, Boland and Bullock missing, the City side today was not the strongest they could put out, but Anthony, Fish, Fleetwood and Jerome were all in from the start for a team that looked a more powerful outfit than the side that lost to Yeovil last week.
The game got under away in bright, calm and mild conditions which were a complete cntrast to last weeks and, for just about the first time since the reserve side has been playing there, Leckwith Stadium was actually quite a pleasant place to watch a game of football!
City were up against a Cheltenham team who, as far I could make out, had just three players with any first team experience and in each case it was only one appearance off the bench. It appeared that Cheltenham were there for the taking and in the opening minutes it only seemed a matter of time before City, with Stuart Fleetwood causing problems down the right, scored.
However, the goal never came and the game degenerated into a scrappy affair with neither side being capable of stringing more than a couple of passes together (I don't think a pitch that has never really impressed me that much helped matters in this respect). You could sense frustration building up in the City team and referee Turner (someone who would play an increasingly important part in the game) booked Fish and Kift (I think) as tempers frayed.
Given the boring stuff being served up on the pitch the idea of a half time pint in the Ninian seemed a good one and just as the game went into injury time we started to leave only for Cheltenham to take the lead when a long throw in seemed to skid off a City defender's head, a good save by Arran Lee Barrett prevented an own goal and a scramble resembling a rugby ruck ensued before someone (God knows who!) forced the ball over the line.
We returned from our pint expecting the second half to have been underway for five minutes or so only for us to see both teams warming up and no sign of the referee! After a further few minutes the ref and his linesman appeared and the game restarted with, as far as I know, no reason given for the delay.
Cheltenham never looked as good a side as the City but they were hard working and enthusiastic and in the opening minutes of the second half, they would had doubled their lead had it not been for a very good goal line clearance by Parslow after one of the visiting strikers had taken the ball past Lee Barrett.
Apart from one shot just wide Cheltenham never really threatened after thar, but then, for a long period, it looked like City wouldn't either - there was a header that Anthony maybe should have done better with and the odd threatening cross, but not much else.
The turning point of the game for me came about twenty minutes after the break when Michael Parkins came on for Richard Ingram. Although he didn't make an immeadiate impact, Parkins gave City some much needed creativity and, gradually, the chances began to come with Cheltenham keeper Brown doing well to foil Fleetwood and Danny Thomas (who had come on for Jerome).
With the late start to the second half it was hard to know precisely how long there was to go when Parkins shot wide from a great chance set up by Fleetwood and Thomas, but my feeling was that it was the City's last opportunity to get something out of the match.
However, the game went on and on and on. By now Jamal Easter had come on Ryan Morgan for what I think was his first appearance at this level and City were playing with just three defenders as they really went for it. Despite their improvement in the second half and the constant pressure, there seemed no way that City could end up winning the game when the fourth official held up the board to show four minutes of added time (where the ref got some much time from I do not know).
By now, a lot of the crowd had gone because they were desperate to avoid the five o clock rush hour! However they were to miss a truly dramatic ending which made up for much of the ordinary stuff that had gone one before.
Two minutes into added time, Taylor knocked in a great low cross from the right that was well put in at the near post by Easter from the edge of the six yard box. The City had saved themselves and got away with a draw or so we thought, but the ref was obviously enjoying the game because he kept it going for what seemed to be another three or four minutes before awarding the City a free kick on the edge of the box for a foul on Nicky Fish and Parkins stepped up to hit a lovely low shot past the wall and Brown (who did not deserve to be on the losing side) and into the net! Incredibly, the ref played on for another minute or so before finally ending a game which, although it lacked the quality of last nights certainly had some of it's drama!
Just a quick word about some individuals, the City didn't play that well today, but Parkins, Anthony (who is looking more and more of a footballing centre half every time I see him at this level) and Thomas were the pick of the team for me.