Late winner sinks City again

City were unable to back up an excellent result last week against Anstey Nomads as they fell to another late goal at home against a determined and well organised Sporting Khalsa.

The game started brightly for the Lilywhites. Will Jones was able to take advantage of a mix-up in the Lions defence. Centreback and Goalkeeper collided just outside the box and Jones picked up the ball to cooly slot home for his first goal in a City shirt and a valuable 1-0 lead after just 8 minutes.

Khalsa responded well and had a close range effort of their own that was comfortably saved by Joe Welch. Stefan Broccoli produced a piece of magic when he released Brad Rolt with a beautiful ball over the top with the outside of his foot. Rolt turned inside the defender on the edge fo the box, but could only fire his effort inches over the bar.

Almost immediately Khalsa were back in the game, A free kick 40 yards from goal was clipped over the heads of City defence and the aptly name Marvelous Onabirekhanlen allowed the ball to drop over his right shoulder before instinctively firing across goal for an excellent equaliser.

The teams went in level but City were forced into a change in midfield after George Scales rolled his ankle in a challenge, this meant that City had to put Ryan Ingrey in as a makeshift Central Midfielder.

City were much brighter after the break and the first real chance of the second half fell to Dylan Edge, a deep cross from Ben Garwood was cleared by the Khalsa defence but the ball dropped to Edge who couldn't quite connect with the volley and the shot was easily saved by Sam Arnold in the Lions goal.

Ingrey's first impact was to then produce a lovely pass down the wing which Broccoli did well to take in his stride and cross to the back post. Dylan Edge was poised in acres of space but the City man inexplicably managed to miss the target from 5 yards with the open goal at his mercy.

City did find the back of the net, but Broccoli was adjudged to have pulled back his marker inside the box. The defender went down in a heap and to everyones surprise the referee, who had been very lenient in letting this type of challenge go all game, decided that this one was a foul.

All the more frustrating when a similar incident at the other end lead to the winner for Khalsa. Ed Tassell competing with Toumani Sidibe, had the young defender gone to ground, he may well have won the free kick. But, to Sidibie's credit, With Tassell pushing him wider and wider, he managed to slot the ball home from an impossible angle and with 5 minutes remaining, there was little chance for City to get back in the match.

A disappointing result again at home, with enough chances to have put the game out of sight, despite Khalsa having the Lions share of possession.

We move on now to a clash with bottom of the league Rushden & Diamonds who's impressive run of form came to an end with a 3-0 defeat at Hinckley.