Romans open festive period in perfect style

City secured a perfect early Christmas present at Twerton Park this afternoon, beating Aveley by three goals to nil. All the goals came during the first half as City swept aside the Essex side to move seven points clear of the National League South drop zone.

City got off to the perfect start, going ahead with just three minutes on the clock. Setting the tone for much of their performance Leathers’ crude lunge took out Jordan Alves down the left flank. The midfielder remarkably escaped even a booking but City extracted the perfect redress when Alves’ low free-kick was diverted home by Kieran Parselle from close range. Just before the half-hour mark City doubled their lead. Luke Russe won possession in the middle of the park allowing Alves to collect the ball before driving a low shot into the net from 25-yards out. A perfect first half was completed two minutes before the break when a mistake by the visitors allowed Scott Wilson to race clear and confidently slot the ball past Holden.

The second half started scrappily which suited City well after their first half efforts. Aveley were almost exclusively resulting to high balls forward or long throws from both flanks but the Romans dealt with these tactics superbly. In fact, it was City who should have added to the scoring twice with the space of five minutes. On 67 minutes Ben Seymour got in behind the visitors backline but saw his lob over the stranded Holden drop the wrong side of the post. Then Wilson broke away down the left but his pass was slightly behind Seymour and, despite getting a shot away, it didn’t have the power to beat a defender on the line. However, these misses didn’t prove costly as City comfortably saw out the remaining time to begin the festive period in ideal fashion.