For some people the onset of spring is signified by the first cuckoo they hear, for others it's the first time they have to mow the lawn after winter, while for cricket fans it's when that years edition of Wisden appears. For the last couple of years for me, the realisation that spring is on the way came when City stopped playing reserve games at Leckwith Stadium and switched back to Ninian Park as the venue for their second team fixtures.
Optimistic fool that I am, on both of those occasions I told myself that when the final whistle blew for that last game at Leckwith that I would not be back there to watch another match, because, by the autumn and the new football season it would not exist because it would have been demolished as part of the programme to build our new stadium.
Anyway, back to reality and the City reserves made their return to Leckwith Stadium today in a 1-1 draw with Cheltenham that had little in it to enthuse the tiny crowd!
I don't like being too negative about Leckwith Stadium but it just doesn't have the feel of a football stadium. Whereas Ninian Park has something even when there are only the hundred or so people who normally watch reserve matches in there, Leckwith always seems to be bleak, damp and windswept (I swear there was a near gale blowing down the pitch today and yet when I got outside the ground after the game, there was barely a breath of wind!) and I reckon all of this tends to have an effect on the players out on the pitch (something certainly did today!).
It's no good, I can't keep on padding this out any more, I am going to have to write about the game now!
The City team consisted nearly entirely of teenagers with Phil Mulryne being easilly the most experienced player, while Cheltenham featured ex Bristol City boss Brian Tinnion, Jamie Victory who I am pretty sure has been with them since they got into the Football League and Steve Guinan who I can remember being sacked by one of his previous clubs (Cambridge United?) for misconduct.
City persisted with the 4-5-1 formation they had used last week in the win over Plymouth, but, after doing so well then, lone striker Andrea Ferretti got little change out of the visiting defence this time around with the result that you could virtually count the number of dangerous City moves on the fingers of one hand.
Cheltenham offered the greater threat in the opening stages and Byron Anthony was too easilly beaten (almost giving away a penalty in the process) out on the right before a scramble in the box ended with an overhead kick by Yao that the recovering Anthony did well to clear off the line. Apart from that, not much happened - there were one or two dangerous moments for City, but a goal for either side seemed miles away before City suddenly took the lead midway through the half with a goal completely out of keeping with what had gone before.
In the opening five minutes or so, Joe Jacobson had moved infield dangerously from the touch line and worked himself into a good shooting position only to be robbed by the defence because he seemed reluctant to have a go with his right foot - as this happened and turned to my mate and said "if only he had a right foot" in my best know it all voice. Therefore, I hardly got too excited when Jacobson did the same thing about a quarter of an hour later, only this time he did decide to have a go with his right foot and proceeded to hit a low, well struck twenty yard effort which flew past keeper Brown via the inside of a post!
Jacobson's fine goal was like an oasis in a desert though because, apart from a McDonald header just wide and a penalty shout for a possible foul on Ryan Morgan, very little of note followed it from the City and no one could really begrudge Cheltenham their equaliser just before the break.
Unfortunately, trialist keeper Lee Worgan has to take responsibility for the goal as he rushed out to around his penalty spot to try and cut out a well flighted free kick from the right which the wind was swerving away from him - Worgan got nowhere near the ball as a Cheltenham player (sorry, don't know who) was able to head easilly home from about fifteen yards out.
Cheltenham had shaded the first half, but I suppose the City just edged a second period which was even worse than the first forty five minutes. Truth be told, apart from Brown being forced to tip away a Coombes cross and some dangerous looking crosses into the box, there was little to grab ones attention and I think the final whistle probably came as a relief to all concerned.
It wasn't a day for great individual performances, but, besides his goal, Joe Jacobson worked nicely down the left at times with Curtis McDonald (who was yellow carded for the foul that gave Cheltenham the free kick they scored from) and I continue to be impressed by Tariq Khalil who again showed a nice range of passing.
A pretty awful game then, but, to be fair, matches like this have been very rare since Paul Wilkinson took over the running of the reserve team who usually provide decent entertainment - hopefully this will be a one off, but with the "Leckwith factor" who knows!