City Cooking again with narrow Hemel win

Cody Cooke’s first goal since October was enough to secure a tight 1-0 win for City against Hemel Hempstead Town at Twerton Park this evening. He followed up his initial shot that keeper King could only half-block with his feet to bundle the ball home on 14 minutes. The visitors enjoyed good spells of possession in the game after this but once again City’s defence was outstanding to secure a third successive shut-out. Hemel’s best opening came on the half-hour mark when Brown found space in the box only for Max Harris to deflect his shot wide of the far post. Jack Batten’s flicked header six minutes later was inches away from doubling City’s lead. The second half saw the Tudors press for an equaliser but they couldn’t find a way past City’s resolute backline and when the Romans did break forward they looked the more likely scorers. Sonny Cox forced a good block from King on 58 minutes before Cooke was denied a second goal ten minutes from time, the keeper’s fingertips diverting his header onto the crossbar. The Romans saw out the remaining time with no real further scares to earn another hard-fought three points.