Penalty miss sees City settle for Hemel point

City were left to rue a first half Brad Ash penalty miss as they had to settle for a point in a goalless draw against Hemel Hempstead Town at Twerton Park this afternoon. He saw his 37th minute effort turned on to the post by Horlick and, despite several near misses in the second half, they couldn’t find a way past the mid-table Tudors.

Neither side could gain the upper hand during a scrappy opening half an hour. Hemel’s best chance came on 25 minutes when they won a free-kick 25 yards out but Williams’ effort failed to trouble Harvey Wiles-Richards. Luke Russe did well to make space in the box four minutes later but his cross failed to find a teammate, then Ash evaded a couple of tackles but couldn’t get his shot on target, as the Romans began to finally impose the themselves on the game. And it looked as if this had paid off in the 37th minute when Russe was brought down in the box only for Horlick to keep out Ash’s spot-kick.

City maintained this momentum into the second half with Joe Raynes’ long-range volley straight at the well-positioned Horlick. On the hour mark a corner found Kieran Parselle but his header was scrambled off the line by Horlick, an off-balance Raynes scooping the rebound narrowly wide. Hemel responded to this escape when Williams’ close range header was brilliantly saved by the feet of Wiles-Richards. This would be as close as the visitors would come to claiming victory as City pushed for a late winner. And in stoppage time they almost found it only for substitute Mitch Beardmore’s shot to hit the post with Horlick finally beaten.