City quickly got their season up and running with this purposeful opening day defeat of Tooting Bec at Hartsdown Park.

City took the initial lead having just missed a penalty and looked the better side going into the break. However, the Bec came back out looking far more composed and organised and quickly levelled and for a while appeared to be in the ascendency, but City dug deep and eventually two goals in the last ten minutes were enough to seal the win and the points.

The game took a while to settle down, but it was City that had the first clear efforts on goal as Mo Cham thundered a shot just too high while debutant Dolapo Oladipupo saw his lobbed attempt from distance just graze the top of the visitor’s bar.

The same piece of woodwork came to the Bec’s rescue again shortly after when an arrowed in long throw from Joe Nelder saw a Luke Illsley header rattle the crossbar before being cleared. The Bec were already looking out of sorts and at odds with everyone and everything and when Oladipupo was brought down in the box for a City penalty, their frustrations just grew.

Fortune was soon on their side though as Cham stepped up and slotted the ball the wrong side of the post as keeper Thierri Manley dived in the opposite direction!

Cham was soon to atone for that miss as just three minutes later he was slid through clear and ran on before calmly sliding the ball past an exposed Manley to give City a 1-0 lead.

The hosts were clearly on top and had further chances to extend their lead before the break. Illsley volleyed over the bar from a Rob Lawrence free-kick while Luka Radojevic saw his header from a Lawrence corner well gathered by Manley. A lovely move down the right saw Simon Kabamba’s shot blocked by his own player as the Bec defence went awol and then in added time, Cham powered a shot just over the bar.

City a goal to the good then at the break with their opponents trudging wearily off.

The Bec restarted clearly in a much better place. They were far more settled, determined and decisive and in fact they went close to equalising just three minutes in when a bit of class from Conor Turner saw him chest the ball down before swivelling and volleying it – all in one action, just over the bar from the edge of the box. A very close call, but they didn’t have to wait much longer because just over a minute later, the same player was slipped though behind the City defence and he stabbed the ball home just inside the post for 1-1.

They could have taken the lead not long after as well when substitute Tosin Oyebola forced his way though but side-footed his effort just wide of the far post. The Bec were suddenly looking far more of a threat and City’s cause wasn’t helped much when Lawrence fell foul of the sin bin rule when disputing a clear but not given handball offence which meant his side were reduced to ten men for the following ten minutes.

They responded well though to being a man down and didn’t allow their opponents to take any advantage with Bec barely making any progress towards the City goal. They also took the time to make a couple of changes and created the only scoring chance when Cham’s free-kick was hoisted in before falling down onto the roof of the net.

With ten minutes left and with City back up to eleven and Bec starting to run out of steam, the home side took the lead. Another splendid flat long throw from Nelder found Illsley again and this time he thumped his firm header through Manley’s desperate grasp and into the roof of the net for 2-1.

It was all about game management from then on and further changes for City slowed the proceedings down and gave Bec little to work with although Jack Martin’s long aerial effort tested the home goal but was well seen and well taken by keeper Tom Benham.

With a minute of normal time remaining, City debutant Leighton Murray pinched the ball in midfield, moved forward and with no apparent challenge coming, looked up and rifled a screamer into the top corner giving Manley no chance, City the win – and possibly a very early contender for goal of the season, so be sure to watch that in the highlights when they are posted on our new YouTube channel very soon!

So a good start to the season for City without at times playing their fluent best but it was still a hard-working and well-earned and deserved victory.