Wiles-Richards red sees City lose at Hemel

City suffered a 4-2 defeat this afternoon against Hemel Hempstead Town in an eventful clash at Vauxhall Road, with both sides being reduced to ten men in an eight minute first half spell. City lost keeper Harvey Wiles-Richards which saw full-back Joe Raynes take over the gloves only to be beaten three times in stoppage time to send the home side in to the interval 4-0 ahead. City struck twice in the second half but couldn’t avoid a third defeat of the season.

The opening ten minutes was all City as they penned the home side back. The best chance fell to Nick Grimes but he got his header all wrong from Ewan Clark’s 5th minute cross. And from their first effort on goal Hemel went ahead on 12 minutes, Smith heading home at the far post. Just before the half-hour mark Wiles-Richards came racing out of his goal and collided with Cook-Appiah. The referee showed the Romans no.1 a straight red and, for the first time this season, with no replacement on the bench Raynes took over the goalkeeping duties. He was immediately called into action, turning Wishart’s shot away. On 37 minutes the numbers were even again when Barzey laid out Grimes with an elbow to also see red. Despite this the Tudors took complete control of the game with three goals in first half stoppage time. Cerulli’s low shot made it 2-0 on 45 minutes then a free header from Ajayi added a third. There was still time for Cerulli to strike again with a shot over the stand-in keeper.

Into the second half Raynes twice produced saves with his legs as Hemel looked to press home their advantage but in the 65th minute Clark won a penalty for the Romans which Humphrey-Ewers confidently dispatched. Moments later new loan signing Billy Phillips saw his deflected shot hit the top of the bar. It wasn’t long before City struck again though as Kieran Parselle unleashed a stunning 30-yard effort that King could only push into the roof of the net. Sensing a remarkable comeback City continued to enjoy the better of possession but Hemel regrouped sufficiently to deny them any further clear openings and hold on for the three points.