City 1 -2 Witham Town

Essex side Witham Town were the visitors to the FWD-IP Community stadium on Saturday afternoon. The two teams had met previously, with Witham winning on a penalty shoot-out, after a 3-3 draw, in the 2^nd Qualifying Round of the FA Trophy back in September, and a goalless draw in the league almost a month later.

The Lilywhites were coming into the match having failed to win any of their last 5 league matches, although they did manage to beat March Town United late on in the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup semi-final.

Witham were coming into the match on a 7 match win-less streak, which included a 5-game losing run, confirmed by their 1-0 defeat away at Newmarket Town.

It was a fast start from both teams, with neither troubling opposing goals. The first real chance came after 6 minutes. Jack Thompson's free-kick was given to Quevin Castro, the forthcoming shot cleared the bar.

All all the game's goals came in 6 first half minutes. The first came when Stuart Lathan gave a corner when his assistant originally flagged for a goal-kick. Harry Fairs initially got his hand to the ball to punch away, Freddie Hockey then got the last touch from the following cross to poke in and give City the lead.

City's lead lasted for no longer than 4 minutes. Luke Ige received the ball and bombed down the right wing and into a fine crossing position. Ziad Bakaar ended the move with a fine strike that nestled in the bottom corner for the equaliser.

Just 2 minutes after the leveller, Witham then hit the front. The ball was thumped into the penalty area and it struck Callum Taylor on the arm and a penalty was the final decision, although it seemed harsh. Sam Bantick stepped up to turn the game on it's head and give Witham a 2-1 lead.

The next few minutes didn't yield too much, but Witham could've pulled clear after 33 minutes as Archie Mcfadden's cross was met by Ben Allen with the midfielder putting it wide.

Castro couldn't get his touch right afterwards, which led to Mcfadden passing towards Bantick, the striker's path was stopped at the expense of a corner. The ball was whipped onto Rowan Dorling's head and spun just wide of the far stick.

Just before half-time, City's goalscorer Hockey pushed forward to find a cross, which was turned away for a corner. Callum Taylor collected the cross but headed over from just under the crossbar. Witham held the lead at half-time.

Witham stayed patient at the beginning of the 2^nd half. Bakaar turn Mcfadden's cross just wide in the early parts of the 2^nd half.

With 58 minutes gone, Castro tried his luck from distance to find an equaliser. However, Fairs caught the strike at his 2^nd attempt despite Hockey striding into the penalty area to put some pressure on the visiting goalkeeper.

One minute later, a City free-kick saw Ali Njie pick up the loose ball after work from Thompson and Samrai Gebrai, and the cross was tipped over by Fairs.

Taylor sent in a cross soon after, Castro's resulting shot was stopped on route to goal after Fairs had intervened by punching the cross away.

City tried to equalise for the next few moments. Castro and Thompson combined to send in Charley Barker, but the touch was poor, allowing Ryan Mallett in to block.

Gebrai then came in to send in a cross which was picked up by Castro. The City man was then in a tussle with Ollie Bell in trying to win the ball, Castro won the tussle but sent his shot wide after a nice spin.

Witham had a throw up the other end which saw Bakaar have an effort saved by James Philp at point blank range to keep City in the match.

With 78 minutes gone, a long ball was floated up to substitute Shaun Mavididi, and the striker fired over the crossbar, all while Barker was in a better position in the centre on the 18-yard area.

With Witham failing to put the game to bed, City had renewed vigour to level the scores. A corner for City was cleared by the Witham defence and when the ball came back out, Njie tried the speculative overhead kick, but Fairs saved it comfortably.

City then pushed for an equaliser, but none came and Witham walked away with all 3 points. The win-less run for City continued to 6 league matches, with only one win in that span being the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup semi-final against March Town United. For Witham, they ended a run which saw them pick up 5 consecutive losses. City will be hoping for an upturn in their fortunes when they travel to Heybridge Swifts next Saturday.