City suffer derby defeat to league leaders

A goal in each half saw City suffer a 2-0 defeat this afternoon against Yeovil Town at Huish Park. As in the reverse fixture at Twerton Park last month, City more than matched the full-time league leaders for much of the game but came away empty-handed.

The home side took the lead from their first attack on 14 minutes. Nouble’s pass picked out Smith and his perfectly weighted cross was steered past Slav Huk by Young. This turned out to be Yeovil’s only real chance of the half as City comfortably dealt with their attacking threat. And as the half progressed the Romans began pose problems of their own going forward. On 32 minutes Ewan Clark broke forward only to see his shot blocked by Cooper then from a free-kick Jordan Dyer rose highest but saw Day turn his header over the bar.

The second half began with City enjoying the upper hand and on 56 minutes they should have been level. A right-wing cross was headed back across goal by Cody Cooke but Scott Wilson couldn’t adjust his body quick enough to apply a finishing touch from a couple of yards out. Yeovil responded a minute later with a Cooper shot that Huk had to turn away for a corner. However, it was still City who were asking more questions. On 66 minutes Oscar Thorn’s shot was deflected narrowly wide of the far post. Five minutes later a free-kick from 25 yards saw Dan Hayfield’s shot flick the side-netting that saw a fair number of City followers thinking they had deservedly levelled. But it was the Glovers who doubled their advantage in the 75th minute when a corner dropped to Nouble to stab the ball home from close range. City continued to look for a way back into the game but apart from a couple of half chances there was no late drama and Yeovil collected the three points to extend their lead at the top of table to 10 points.