Crusaders make Red Insure exit

There was little to warm the spectators on this chilly evening as we were knocked out of the Red Insure Cup with hardly a whimper when we failed to create a chance during the game, the second half being a particularly dull affair, although with the hectic fixture list ahead it is perhaps a blessing in disguise, and we must now concentrate on the league as we battle to regain a play-off place.
There were wholesale changes in our line-up, only Matt Day and James Clark keeping their places from Saturday,s team, with several academy players also starting the game .
A couple of Clark free-kicks came to nothing and Brendan Norris fumbled a shot from Jack Stirland, but recovered to grab the loose ball. Matt Ben Ham looked Winchester’s most dangerous player,but failed to create any chances for the visitors and Mike Jones and Mark Draycott both shot wide whilst Paul Strudley only had one shot to save, a good attempt by Jamie Thorogood as the first half came to an end.
We had looked the more dangerous side in the first half, but did not perform with any authority after the interval and the introduction of several substitutes did not improve the team and the game drifted on with hardly a shot at goal from either side. It looked as if a single goal would win the game and when Warren Bentley netted for the visitors after 64 minutes we seldom looked like turning the game round and a goal from Jamie Barron 2 minutes from the end made it 2-0 and make absolutely certain of a win for the City.
Team; Gee, Stow , Thomas , Berry -Hargreaves, Day(Passey)Herring, Stirland, Jones(Rees),Goodger, Draycott, Clark(O’Brien). Sub;Rusby.