In the end it was a comprehensive victory for City against a Wells side who, a shadow of their former self, still managed to make a game of it for at least the first hour or so.

City had some missed early openings when a great Sam Conlon cross failed to find a home head while the returning Jordan Casey headed another cross off target before Dave Pilcher rifled a snap shot just the wrong side of the Wells upright while City were then caught napping in midfield and were grateful to see the offside flag raised to stop Wells in their tracks.

Pilcher saw another shot charged down before City keeper Jack Delo was forced into action – diving across to beat away a fierce Wells shot from close range. Wells then won a couple of corners but failed to create anything from them before City almost took the lead. A long ball forward was flicked on by Casey and as it bounced about in the area, Pilcher almost benefitted from some hesitant Wells defending as he battled to get the ball and almost nicked it past keeper Chris Oladogba who was no doubt somewhat relieved to see it pop up into his gloves.

On twenty-one minutes, City fell behind when Joe Nwoko got forward into the box and had far too much time to get a low shot off that seemed to catch Delo wrong footed, beating him at his near post for 0-1. They weren’t behind for long though as Pilcher soon equalised. He had just seen a speculative forty-yard effort go wide before he latched on to a lovely lifted ball into the box from Conlon, shrugged off Oladogba’s challenge and powered home a shot through a defender for 1-1.

City were now building momentum and finished the half strongly. A lovely move pulled Wells apart and a high ball in from the right saw Matt Martin’s first-time volley go over the bar. Another ball into the box then spun and bounced about and as Wells hesitated again, Pilcher pounced but couldn’t quite get enough on it to poke it past the keeper before Joe Kennett, up from the back, saw his header saved.

City pressure was soon to pay off though and on forty minutes, they took the lead. Michael Turner crossed from the right and once again, Wells failed to clear it and Martin battled through before seeing his first shot saved and then was the quickest to react forcing the rebound home from close range for 2-1.

As the break approached, Oladogba saved Conlon’s stooping header before the half nearly ended in controversy when Wells could have fashioned an equaliser from a poor piece of refereeing. Having already clearly signalled that a Wells free-kick was ‘on the whistle’ he allowed them to take it without and before City had regained any sort of possession, Delo had had to fingertip a shot over his bar and they had to survive two corners – all stemming from the original free-kick!

Fortunately for City and in fact – the referee, they kept their goal intact and then got to the break still in the lead.

The second half started slowly and it took ten minutes for the first chance to be crafted as Casey turned in the Wells box and shot wide. It was the visitors though that seemed to be being the more pro-active and were pushing City back. Nwoko sprang forward into the City box and it took the combination of a sliding blocking tackle from Kennett and a brave save down at his feet from Delo to stop him. Despite being back on their heels a little, City did break forward when a lovely pass from Pilcher found Conlon who weaved his way into the box before forcing Oladogba into a smart, low, near post save.

A handily placed attacking free-kick was wasted by the visitors as having lined everything up, Tom Davey hit a very weak effort wide of both the wall and the goal. On sixty-eight minutes, City took a hold on the game with their third goal. A big clearance from the back was helped on by Casey and with an instant flick of his boot, Martin caught everyone napping as his first-time shot easily beat a stranded Oladogba who scrambled across in vain but couldn’t prevent City from going 3-1 up.

The period that followed was very stop-start with several substitutions, a couple of yellow cards and other stoppages which suited City just fine and Wells, now having to chase the game, seemed just unable to break it. Any hopes they may have had of getting back into the match were well and truly dashed on eighty-two minutes when Darren Marsden whipped in a lovely right-sided free-kick and Kennett running round the back at the far post buried a header home from a tightening angle for 4-1.

There was now no way back for the visitors and City continued to press forward and look for more goals. Substitute Gary Mickelborough broke down the left and played in Joe Nelder who picked his way into the box, but fired over, Laurence Harvey headed wide while Conlon had an effort saved by Oladogba.

With a minute of normal time to go, a ball from Nelder was lifted into the box and in an aerial challenge, between Kennett and Oladogba, the keeper capped off his team’s disappointing display by punching the ball into his own net for 5-1.

To their credit, the visitors did spend added time camped in City’s half as Jake Beecroft shot wide and Rhys Bartlett saw a shot charged down but despite a late chance, when they almost scored as the ball ricocheted across the City goal and an even later corner, it was far too little,far too late for the visitors.

A comprehensive job done by City – Final score: City 5 Wells 1

City; Jack Delo, Michael Turner, Gary Sayer (Josh McCallum), Joe Nelder, Laurence Harvey, Joe Kennett, Matt Martin, Darren Marsden, Jordan Casey (Gary Mickelborough), Dave Pilcher (Connor Sanders), Sam Conlon.
Unused subs; Rob Lawrence, Cory Walters-Wright.