Saturday 6 November - Ladymead - kick off 3.00pm FA Trophy 1st Round

City made just one change to the side that had beaten Leatherhead in the FA Cup a week earlier, Gary Owers making his first start since the Dunstable match at the beginning of September in place of Russell Milton. The opening ten minutes seemed to indicate that both sides had their minds more on forthcoming FA Cup 1st Round matches – Tivvy will entertain League 2 side Doncaster Rovers whilst City have the somewhat less attractive trip to Barnet to attend to – and although the home side saw the greater possession they rarely looked like making that count. In fact the only excitement during this period occurred when Tiverton captain Rudge had an off-the-ball dig at Owers. It incensed City’s player-manager but as this sort of behaviour was very much true to form for the ex-Chippenham defender it was done out of sight of the referee and he escaped any punishment. Once Owers had regained his composure he was involved in the build-up that saw the first shot on goal from either side. Partridge’s 25-yarder was well struck but straight at Ovendale. This effort preceded a decent little spell for City as Steve Jones just failed to direct a header on target from Alex Sykes’s free-kick and Mike Trought’s shot from the same player’s corner was turned away by Ovendale. With Jones and Trought looked solid against the Devon side’s main attacking threat of Ibe and Mudge, the former spending more time fouling his marker than attempting to win the ball, City were beginning to get a grip on the game. They had one nervous moment on the half hour when Steve Perrin could only parry Mudge’s deflected shot but Jones was there to clear the danger. City replied with a John Williams volley that flew just wide and another effort from the top scorer that finished somewhat further off target, both openings created by good work from Bobby Ford. In between they had a strong penalty appeal turned down after ex-City player Iain Harvey clearly controlled the ball with his hand to deny Partridge a chance. And on 44 minutes the City no.9 let his frustrations get the better of him after he was twice thrown to the ground near the corner flag by Rudge only for the linesman, standing a couple of yards away, to incredibly award a free-kick to the Tiverton thug. Understandably he directed a few choice comments at the official which only earned him a booking.

The second half began with Tiverton creating their best opening of the game so far. Ibe and Wills played a neat one-two that sent the on-loan Yeovil Town man racing clear but he could only fire a shot into the side netting. They then lost Rudge, ironically to injury rather than the more common red card, and it wasn’t long before City took full advantage of this loss for the hosts. Before this City made a change of their own with Partridge reluctantly departing to be replaced by Moor. The goal itself came from nothing as a long ball out of defence by Jones looked to be of little threat. However, when Ovendale and another ex-Bath star Rob Cousins got in each others way it allowed Moor to steal the ball away from them. He was suddenly faced with an empty net from the corner of the 18-yard box and, showing a composure that belied his failure to previously open his City account, he calmly rolled the ball home to his and his teammates obvious delight. Tiverton immediately boosted their attack with the introduction of a third former Roman, Paul Milsom, but the way the confidence drained from them was almost papable. Williams nearly doubled the lead after 61 minutes when his header from a Sykes cross was cleared off the line by Booth and it was only another seven minutes before they did score a second. Graeme Power’s pass sent Moor free down the left and his low cross was slid home at the near post by Benefield. There was only one winner now and further chances came and went for City to further their advantage. Harvey came within inches of slicing another Moor centre into his own net and Williams should have done better when unmarked ten yards out only to delay his shot and allow a defender to block. The closing ten minutes of the game saw City happy to sit back and absorb what little threat Tiverton could produce and, although Winter, Ibe and Milsom all had half chances, they never looked like denying City the victory and that spot in the 2nd Round draw.