A tough afternoon for City today as they suffered a second consecutive home defeat losing 1-3 at Hartsdown Park to Faversham Strike Force.

A lot for Manager Dan Lawrence and his coaching team to ponder as City looked second best against Strike Force, who having had an indifferent start to their own season, belied their form so far in gaining this victory.

City appeared to be making the early running but there was little by way of actual goalmouth action in the opening exchanges with just a Luke Illsley shot steered just wide for City in the sixth minute. Looking comfortable thus far, the own goal that they conceded to give the visitors the lead on twelve minutes was as bizarre as it was unexpected. With opponents closing him down, Illsley played the ball back airily over an attacker into the City box and Ben Binder headed it further back towards his keeper Tom Benham. Whatever happened after that was difficult to see but the end result saw the ball just trickling over the line with Benham desperately trying to claw it back from a prone position and giving City the worst possible start.

Having said that, how they didn’t equalise after twenty minutes was purely down to a brilliant save by Force keeper Harry Earls. A break down the left from Harry O’Donnell saw his timely cross stand up perfectly for Rob Lawrence in the box, he paused, loaded and took aim before unleashing a tremendous volley that look destined to hit the back of the net but somehow Earls launched himself across and made a stunning block to preserve his team’s lead.

It was Force however that looked the most likely to score, they were fashioning the better chances and playing the more composed and joined up football. City defended out a couple of corners that were being arrowed in right under the bar quite well, but they had no answer in the twenty-second minute when the visitors extended their lead. A rapid and skilful break down their left saw Dan Lott tying up and drawing in defenders before he managed to somehow send in a pinpoint cross where Marshall Wratten rose unchallenged to head home for 0-2.

City tried to respond straightaway as Illsley fired in a hopeful long range effort hoping to catch Earls off his line, but the ball cleared the keeper and also the crossbar. They did grab a goal back on twenty-five though when a cross from the City right found Illsley at the near post and he forced the ball in with a header for 1-2.

That didn’t seem to sidestep Force for long however as they continued with the more meaningful attacking play. A couple of corners passed them by and the ever dangerous looking Wratten fired across goal and wide. He then had another effort deflected out for a corner which was sent over to the far post where Cain McCormack, with the goal at his mercy, side-footed a volley well over the bar.

City then made a tactical substitution bringing on forward Tim Marapara for defender Binder, but still Force were controlling the game and from a corner, McCormack under pressure, headed over. The visitors had City pinned back but a free-kick and a trio of further corners failed to give them a clear opportunity to increase their lead before another free-kick was fired straight at the well positioned Benham.

When the half-time whistle blew just after that, it was City that went off looking a little frazzled and hassled in the August sunshine!

It could have been so different at the restart though, as firstly Marapara picked his way through on the right before pinging in a lovely low cross from the byeline that evaded a couple of City players but would have just needed any sort of touch to turn it home and then just a few minutes later, the same player headed home a Nico Cotton cross only to see the linesman waving his flag for offside. Then to add insult to City injury, Marapara was cleverly played through in front of goal but was denied by Earls with a super close-range spreading block!

Force were soon picking up from where they had left off in the first-half though as Chris Axford, at full-stretch, could only guide a header wide of the City goal before Lott pounced on a loose ball in the City defence but could only aim it straight at Benham for a comfortable save. Wratten saw an attempt fly off target from the edge of the box before, Adam Benfield surged forward from left-back into the City box, but without any strength in his shot, Benham was again able to make an easy save.

On sixty-six minutes, Force really sealed the day when a great ball forward split the City ranks and Lott, despite appeals for offside, found himself through on goal and he calmly stroked the ball past Benham for 1-3.

City shuffled the pack in response making three changes as Benham did well to pluck a free-kick out of danger and Wratten saw another just curl past the City post.

The changes did inject some pace and urgency into the City attack but they still couldn’t break their opponents down and in the next ten minutes or so,  probably seven or eight times City got the ball into the heart of the Force penalty area, but every time they were thwarted by some stout and resolute defending, engineering only one attempt on goal when Illsley crashed in a volley at the far post that took a thumping deflection off a defender leaving him down for several minutes.

Despite the late pressure, it was Force that nearly increased their lead further when, with two minutes to go, Benham did well to get behind a swerving shot from Axford before the loose ball rebounded kindly straight to Kane Taylor, but he slipped at the vital moment thus forgoing a simple tap in and allowing Benham to retrieve the ball.

City desperately rallied as the clock ticked into added time with a header cleared off the Force line from a Leo Dodds corner and then Danny Keyte fired over the bar as he sped onto a pass from Dodds in the last minute.

With two away wins and then two home defeats so far, City are next in action at the Ladywell Arena in Croydon next Saturday to take on Forest Hill Park and they will be looking to quickly get back to winning ways in what will be the first of three matches in eight days.

Final score: Canterbury City 1 Faversham Strike Force 3

City: Tom Benham, Ryan Cooper, Nico Cotton, Danny Keyte, Ben Binder (Tim Marapara), Teddy Nelson (Dan Binder), Rob Lawrence, Luke Illsley, Darren Cooper (Sam Lawford), Harry Maher (George Adams), Harry O’Donnell (Leo Dodds).

Picture supplied by Ian Ralphs.