Match Preview

City take on their fourth side from the league’s top eight in a row when they make the trip to Bristol’s Roman Glass St George on Wednesday evening, a 7.45pm kick off at Oaklands Park.

It’s been an incredibly tough festive period for Cornes’ men which they have handled exceptionally well so far, facing second placed (at the time) Corsham Town before seventh and sixth placed Fairford and Highworth respectively. Roman Glass currently sit in fourth place in the Hellenic Premier Division table, with 44 points from their 23 games so far. They have won their last five games in a row in all competitions, and most recently played on 30th December having seen their New Year’s Day fixture with Cindeford Town fall foul of the weather and a waterlogged pitch.

Junathain Walker recently returned to the club, and bagged a brace in his first game back when Hereford Lads Club were beaten 3-1 last time out.

Following the 3-0 win over Highworth Town, City have managed to take 7 points from a possible 9 over the festive period. Chris Cornes has a host of in-form players at his disposal to pick from at this moment in time. Dylan Hart has now scored in each of his last four appearances, while Kyle Belmonte bagged his 20th goal of the season in all competitions on New Year’s Day, and his fourth goal in his last five.

Cornes was extremely pleased with the second half performance in particular in the 3-0 Highworth win. Speaking to WCFC TV after the win at Malvern Town’s HDAnywhere Community Stadium, he spoke about how he felt his team controlled the match, and after some further instructions at half time were able to dispatch their opponents, who themselves were in good form heading into the match.

Another pleasing aspect to the Highworth result would have been the fact that Cornes was able to rotate his side and rest a few key players. Despite an injury to Elliott Hartley in the warm-up, top scorer Liam Lockett started the match from the bench, later being introduced and grabbing himself a goal in stoppage time. Connor Gater was given a rest with time remaining when substituted with ten remaining, and new signing Jordan Lymn managed a full 90 minutes.

Kyonn Evans also returned to the City squad for the first time since October, spending two full months on the sidelines through injury. It remains to be seen whether Elliott Hartley’s pre-match will rule him out for this one.

Roman Glass play at Oaklands Park, Gloucester Road, Almondsbury, Bristol, BS32 4AG. Tickets are priced at £7 for Adults and £4 Concessions, with Under 12’s free. Please note that for Roman Glass’ last home fixture, admission was cash only due to their gateperson’s card reader unfortunately being stolen from their car, so it may be a good idea for supporters to take the correct admission money as cash to help speed up entry.