Saturday 10 January 2004 - Wheatsheaf Park - kick off 3.00pm FA Trophy 3rd Round

Despite entering the match with the same starting XI that had beaten Hednesford Town a week earlier City could have found themselves three goals down within the opening eight minutes. A third minute corner dropped to Ellis in the box but he could only shoot straight at Mark Bryant. The keeper then saved at the feet of Ibe before blocking another Ellis effort with his legs following a low cross from Jones. The pressure finally told on City in the 11th minute. A long throw on the left by McDonald was only half cleared by Bryant’s weak punch and Pye lashed the ball into the roof of the net from just inside the area. This finally woke City up but for all their possession the lack of a cutting edge that has so hampered their season was again apparent. Manager Gary Owers was having his most ineffectual game in a City shirt and, for all their effort up front, Jason Eaton and Frankie Bennett were getting little change from the Staines back four. The only possible threat came from Darren Hawkins but for all his neat touches an equaliser never appeared likely, only a 27th minute chip that just cleared the bar threatening the Staines goal. By contrast the home side looked capable of increasing their lead at any time. Mike Trought had already headed a Lovett clearance inches wide of his own net with Bryant well beaten midway through the half, before another huge kick by the keeper was misjudged by Adam Howarth. Ibe was clear on goal only for Bryant to again rescue City with desperate block. He also saved Maskell’s well-struck free-kick before the interval and City were relieved to reach the break just a single goal down.

It could only improve for the visitors into the second half and for a short spell it did appear to have. Trought headed a Russell Milton free-kick over on 47 minutes and then Hawkins’ fiercely struck shot four minutes later brought a fine diving stop out Lovett. Owers also tried his luck from long range only to see his effort curl just wide of the post. Staines were understandably content to try to slow the game down at every opportunity and it soon became clear that it was going to take something special for City to even come close to an equaliser. Before this moment arrived Maskell forced another excellent save out of Bryant, the overworked keeper tipping away his rising shot at full stretch. With 14 minutes remaining a rare moment of quality from City almost drew them level. Not surprisingly the source was Hawkins. He collected a mis-hit clearance from Lovett just inside the Staines half and sent a first time low shot skidding back toward the goal. The scrambling keeper just managing to recover and grab it at the last moment. Danny Cleverley was thrown into the action a couple of minutes later and with his first touch screwed a 18-yard shot wide. As the game entered a protracted period of stoppage time a increasingly desperate City saw an attack broken up and when Howarth made a complete mess of his attempted clearance Ibe was again clean through. This time he easily beat Bryant with a neat lob only for the ball to come back off the post. However, the striker looked to have as simple tap-in as he was first to reach the rebound. Trought though had other ideas and pulled him to the ground. The only possible outcome was a penalty and a red card for the City defender. A second goal would have been no less than Staines deserved but Bryant had other ideas and brilliantly saved Maskell’s spot kick. Even with another three minutes of added time City couldn’t benefit from this save and never came close to even creating a chance before they were finally put out of their misery.