So on a wonderfully unchilly afternoon at the Park, City's proud unbeaten home record came crashing down spectacularly to a good looking Burton Albion side 4-1 in front of a healthy 3823 disbelieving fans. City lined up: Marriott; Friend, Edwards, Matt Taylor, Richardson; Moxey, Gill, Cozic, Carlisle; Basham, Mackie.
It was City who started brightest, and City who made the early running. In the 10th minute City's dominance almost bought the opening goal when a corner from the left was eventually fed back to Cozic lurking on the edge of the box. However, his vicious drive screamed narrowly the wrong side of the keeper's right hand post.
Ten minutes later City had another chance when Bash received the ball on the edge of the box with his back to goal. He slid the ball right to Wayno who first time put the ball back into the box where Mackie had drifted in unnoticed. His 15 yard turn and shot looked good, but once again it went narrowly the wrong side of the post.
On the half hour though, City's determined play eventually bought its reward. Good twisty turny work in the box from Mackie couldn't fashion an opening, so intelligently he sought out Wayno stationed wide on the right touchline. Once again he knocked it in first time, where Mackie rose magnificently to glance in a smart header at the near post with some authority to make it a deserved 1-0 scoreline to City.
The lead was short lived however, as less than a minute later the scores were once again level. A Burton corner was only partially cleared to Shaun Harrad just outside of the City area whereby he struck a sweet low drive back in through a throng of players and into the far corner of the goal to make it 1-1.
It could easily have been 2-1 to City right at the end of the half though. Mackie did wonderfully well to rob a dawdling Burton defender near the half way line and then embarked on a superb mazy run at breakneck speed through two or three shell shocked defenders into the box, however as he shaped to shoot a Burton leg stuck out from nowhere to clear what would probably have been a sure fire contender for goal of the season.
Soon enough it was time for the second half, but how City wished it hadn't come. Burton came out and immediately went on the attack, in sharp contrast to the start of the first half. After only eight minutes, their industry was rewarded when Daryl Clare turned sharply in the box to gleefully rifle a corner into the roof of the net from ten yards out to make it 2-1 to Burton.
Things went from bad to worse less than five minutes later when Clare got his second after a cross field ball found him unmarked 15 yards out on the right. He controlled the ball quite beautifully before smashing the ball across Marriott low into the far corner to make the score 3-1 to Burton.
Keen to try and rescue something, manager Tisdale replaced the tiring Mackie with Stansfield on 20 minutes then two minutes later sacrificed Cozic for Logan as City reverted to a 3-4-3 formation with Edwards moving up into midfield. City came back after that with a couple of chances when first Deano played the ball to Stansfield wide on the left. His low driven cross was met by Bash at the near post but his snap shot was tipped round the post for a corner. From that corner Matt Taylor rose highest at the far post to butt wastefully over from close range.
With time running out Wayno played a ball into Bash on the edge of the area which he controlled superbly. Unfortunately he couldn't quite show the same level of control with his shooting and saw his drive after a smart turn squirm narrowly wide. Then as City sought some consolation in the last action of note, their misery was complete when a hopeful clearance from deep in the Burton half found Harrad all on his own - and looking miles offside - in the City half. He strode forward confidently and from the edge of the area smashed the ball past Marriott to make it 4-1 to Burton and thus end the game.
But what a bizarre game it was. Credit to Burton, they deserved the win, but not by that scoreline. They certainly weren't worth a three goal winning margin, although the difference being that they took their chances and City didn't. Which is unusual given the way City had been playing recently, scoring three, five and four in the last three games whilst only conceding two in the process.
None of the players really did a lot wrong, but at the same time none of them really covered themselves in glory either. Pick of the bunch for me were Mackie and Basham. Mackie worked tirelessly, especially in the first half and fully deserved his well taken goal, and Bash did his best to hold up the ball and link the play between the midfield and his fellow strikers. As for Burton, hopefully it was just one of those days when everything they tried worked, rather like the defeat at Kidderminster earlier in the season. It's funny but if you take away the goals, they hardly gave Marriott anything to do all afternoon.
And so now we go on to Histon next weekend before further trips to Bury in the FA Cup then Halifax in the league. After the Kidderminster game we went six games without defeat, and given the way we've been playing recently there's no reason not to believe we can't do the same again now. It's a long time until we're back at the Park - Torquay on Boxing Day - so with a bit of luck we'll be returning triumphantly and back to winning ways again. The signs are there that we're looking a good side, so let's put this blip behind us and move on, as we're certainly better than the 4-1 scoreline would suggest.
