Matchday report.

.

Bristol Rovers.

By Josh Chapman.

.

.

.

.

AND I’LL HAVE A CIDER WITH THAT PLEASE!

.
An 8am start aboard the Shippers Fun Bus gave us the beginning of a day full of laughter, anger, fun & tears. The first hour or two past without anything worth talking about in the blog but when Holly gave us some Walsall, Chesterfield & Sunderland chocolates just short of passing the Banks's Stadium home of Walsall on the motorway that's when the day really got under way.
.

We stopped at services where Carribob (for a change) bought his train magazine & Ben progressed onto Costa where he bought a muffin & tried to talk up one too! Elsewhere Albert & Ellis wasted £2.30 on two bags of chips at Burger King before we progressed onto what so far in my opinion is the pub of the season, a quaint little country carvery called the Fromebridge Mill just off the M5 outside of Gloucester.
.
However on the way to the pub, we encountered a problem.

One of the bearings on the coach fan had come loose causing the fan to become unstable and made a lot of noise to which "We're going to die" was bellowed out,   the coach managed to make it home after grease off the bottom of the IDL mini bus was used to pack the bearing. The coach broke down in Cottingley after returning home.
.
Whilst at the pub we had two shameless attempts of being served underage. There was the sneaky approach by me who tried to use the cider with a meal if your aged 16 law which has since been abolished to get a Koppaberg which failed even though he did then tell me he'd have served me if I hadn't admitted I was underage! Then there was the direct approach by Conor in which he just walked up to the bar & went can I have a Fosters please which he was shot down when ID'd.
.
The carvery was top notch whilst the burgers were not but the highlight of the pub stop was Ben & Companies shameless perving on the lass serving the carvery & her mate the waitress. After a little wander outside & a game of invisible car park American Football (no me either) we went back onto the coach & headed to the Memorial Stadium for the game.

. 
So, the game got under way at the Memorial but for City it wasn't a very productive start. After a Lee Brown effort went wide, Bristol Rovers continued there onslaught with an inswinging corner and after a bout of head tennis between the City defence and Rovers attack the ball fell back to the feet of Lee Brown who's shot came off the leg of City keeper Super Jonny Mac into the back of the net to break the deadlock and give Rovers an early lead.
.
The first half was poor for the visitors moments after the goal Rob Kozluk made a clearance from Chris Zebroski. Ricky Ravenhill then made a clearance from a Lee Brown free kick before City had two crosses of their own cleared through Rob Kozluk & Craig Fagan. Business then resumed for the home side when Andrew Davies made two clearances from Andy Dorman crosses whilst Elliot Richards fouled Seip in the box attempting to get to the ball.
.
Marcel Seip had a 30 yard effort & Kozluk was booked for unsporting behaviour before the ball fell to the feet of Craig Fagan who instead of taking a touch & going for goal whilst one on one with the keeper went first time and blazed quite embarrassingly wide.

Chris Zebroski had an effort saved by Jon McLaughlin as did Andy Dorman whilst Fagan blazed over again and half time came with the home side leading by one goal to nil.
.
The first ten minutes of the second half was a drag affair with the game dictated by fouls, cards, corners & throw ins with the only real chance a weak effort by a under performing Nahki Wells.

Before in the 55th minute calamity struck the visitors. Andrew Davies mucked up a pass to Rob Kozluk & allowed Elliot Richards to break free and go one on one with Jonny Mac where he then calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net to double the home sides advantage and leave the writing on the wall for City.
.
Bradford then began to put some pressure on their hosts goal with David Syers having a cross cleared & Rob Kozluk shooting from range only to have the effort blocked by Aaron Downes.

Then some more pressure from a free kick saw Rovers keeper Michael Poke spill the ball but to his luck Craig Fagan smashed wide.

PP then made a double substitution, dragging the under performing Nahki Wells & loan debutant Will Atkinson off and throwing fellow loanee Deane Smalley and the returning Kyel Reid onto the field of play.

Some end to end hoofball was brought to an end when Rob Kozluk clashed heads with Elliot Richards and was shown a controversial second yellow to bring an end to his afternoon and starting a City revival.
.
First of all Michael Poke made a fantastic catch from a Reid cross before an attacking throw in from David Syers saw some head tennis between the City attack before Deane Smalley headed on to the on rushing Andrew Davies and Dave Syers, Syers smashed the ball into the back of net to halve the deficit knocking Davies for seven in the process.

City then piled on serious pressure with cross after cross from Reid with the odd one from Seip and Hanson being frantically cleared by the home side before some respite when James Hanson volleyed over from 12 yards.
.
Bristol Rovers managed to muster an attack of their own when Scott McGleish won a corner before Lee Brown whipped one in and after a poor clearing header by Marcel Seip saw Elliot Richards take a first time volley only for it to be punched wide by a fantastic Jonny Mac save.

Moments later Lee Bullock made a clearance from Chris Zebroski then the attack came to an end when Ricky Ravenhill was booked from unsporting behaviour.
.
Bullock & Seip then made clearances at the other end before City hit on the attack again when an Andrew Davies header destined for goal to bring the visitors level was magnificently tipped over by Rovers keeper Michael Poke.

Reid then whipped in a few more dangerous lingering crosses before a tired Bullock came off to be replaced by Charlie Taylor who made his last appearance of his loan spell from the enemy.

Bristol Rovers then had a clear chance to win the game when a McGleish header from a Brown corner went wide before the most controversial moment of the afternoon occurred.
.
After a wonderful pass to his feet Kyel Reid made a beeline for the penalty area skipping past defender after defender when he then made his way into the box he was taken clear out by a dangerous two footed challenge from behind by the already booked Chris Zebroski.

 Any normal referee would give a penalty but not this one and Reid got up and played on blazing a cross over the crossbar then after some more panicky defending by the hosts, the game came to an end.
.
The first hour home was spent discussing & reflecting on the City performance whilst Steve went up and down the coach getting votes to confirm that Kyel Reid had been awarded man of the match.

Then the Shippers newbies were invited up to the back to take part in the back of the coach initiation test.
.
We then got to services where Ayesha's attempts to catch James saw her nearly put me on my backside in the car park before James became a kid at Christmas when he saw a Krispy Kreme before his eyes!

After the usual buying & eating of KFC's & Burger Kings we headed on our final leg home with more talk before finally returning home.
.

.

.