Ten Man Romans Cooke up Boxing Day Treat

Despite playing the final twenty minutes with ten men City overcame local rivals Chippenham Town by four goals to one at Hardenhuish Park this afternoon. City held a slender 2-1 lead when Dave Sims-Burgess received two bookings in the space of four minutes, but they made light work of this setback with Cody Cooke striking twice in the final eight minutes to complete the big win. The game had begun in dream fashion for City when, with just four minutes on the clock, Jordan Dyer headed home Joe Raynes’ corner. Alex Fletcher then saw a dipping shot hit the bar with ex-City keeper Will Henry beaten and Tom Smith missed a great chance from Omar Holness’ pass as City dominated the first half. With the home side playing down the slope in the second half the game was far from over and, within seven minutes of the restart, Aguiar’s 20-yard free-kick levelled the scores. However, City responded perfectly on 57 minutes, Raynes crossing for Holness to powerfully head past Henry. The Bluebirds pushed for an equaliser after this and when Sim-Burgess saw red the pressure increased but, apart from a couple of penalty shouts, City stood firm. Then with eight minutes left a break forward saw Cooke race clear and, as he was about to shoot, King caught his ankle and the referee pointed to the spot. Cooke sent Henry the wrong way from the spot to make it 3-1 and he was on target again in the final minute, latching on to Smith’s pass to roll the ball into the net.