On a reasonably balmy evening, a barmy encounter saw City somehow emerge from Salisbury pointless, goalless and fruitless, with the near 800 travelling fans scratching their heads in bewilderment at what went on. Perhaps the head-scratching was also a result of the surroundings of the ground. Located in a new housing development, it seemed a strange place to locate a Football stadium - while at least the THREE Portaloos aside for male supporters probably got a lot of use.

City were forced into one change from Saturday's epic victory at Stevenage. Steve Basham had limped off injured in that match and, rather than go for a like-for-like replacement in Ben Watson, Paul Tisdale opted for a bit of extra width in the shape of Wayne Carlisle. Initially it looked as if City would pursue the same 4-3-3- formation that gained the win at Stevenage, but soon shifted to a more orthodox 4-4-2 with Ryan Harley pushed out to the left. So, the starting line-up was: Marriott in goal, a back four of Friend, Tully, Seaborne and Matt Taylor; Harley, Carlisle, Gill and Edwards in midfield and Stansfield partnering Logan up front. On the bench were Jones, Moxey, Sercombe, Cozic and Watson.

The early stages of the game saw City press forward, earning a series of attacking set plays and utilising the long throw of Matt Gill to great effect. It needed an early goal to settle things down, and sure enough it arrived. However, it was not City taking a deserved lead but Salisbury scoring somewhat against the run of play. And what a freakish, but well-taken goal it was too. A ball over the top saw Marriott race off his line and out of his area. However, his headed clearance fell straight to the feet of Wayne Turk about 40-45 yards out, and his lobbed finish just cleared the despairing dive of the retreating Marriott. Unfortunately for City's keeper, who has been superb since regaining his place early in the new year, he will look back at the footage of this one and realise he was at fault. Not only was his headed clearance poorly directed (straight up the pitch instead of out to the flanks where there was little danger), he was also very hasty in leaving his area. He wasn't to know at the time, but the ball looked to have easily enough momentum on it to reach him inside the area.

The goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of City, as well as the travelling army who, spread out on an open terrace both behind the goal and along the side, found it difficult to dredge up an atmosphere to match usual away-day showings. The bandaged Matt Tubbs up front caused no end of problems to City's defence, with Steve Tully in particular a target - two men on him whenever he went near the ball. Tubbs should have extended the home side's lead, but he fired wide when well-placed.

City's only real opportunity of the half wasn't an opportunity at all but had it gone in would have been shown on all kinds of "Funny Football" DVDs. Tully, near the halfway line, was just beaten out to a loose ball. However, the ball ricocheted violently off Tully's boot and flew up the pitch. With the goalkeeper beaten, City fans gasped as the ball clipped the top of the crossbar. Who knows, if Tully had been just inside his own half it might have gone in - and you just know he'd claim he intended it...!

Tully was also involved in the other major incident of the first half, and a much more unsavoury incident it was too. An awful lunge by Tully caused a fracas involving several Salisbury players. When all died down, the Referee (who bore an uncanny resemblence to Graham Poll) issued only a yellow card, which was perhaps lenient given the reckless nature of the challenge especially with challenges like that made by Tully particularly under the spotlight at present.

City emerged purposefully for the second half, buoyed somewhat by an improvement towards the end of the first half, and nearly levelled almost immediately. Harley drilled the ball firmly back to Edwards on the edge of the box, and he met it sweetly on the volley. Clarke in the Salisbury goal was alert to the danger and pulled off a stunning stop. Edwards departed shortly afterwards, replaced by Cozic.

The middle part of the half was punctuated by three glaring opportunities missed by City's strikers. Stansfield was twice put through in situations that prior to his injury against Altrincham he would have lapped up. However, he has not looked the same player since returning from injury and firstly found his shot saved by Clarke then he fired wide when it really looked easier to score. Logan too will wonder how he didn't score - Matt Gill's cross landed perfectly on Logan's head, but he put too much downward force on the ball and headed directly into the ground. Stansfield was withdrawn shortly after his second miss, replaced by the lively Watson, while Carlisle was replaced by Moxey - Harley moving over to the right. As if to show Tisdale he was ready to return to the starting line-up, Moxey put in an effervescent performance on the wing and could have scored on a couple of occasions only to find his path to goal blocked.

Then came the sucker punch. An innocuous ball into the box bounced awkwardly and hit a City hand (believed to belong to George Friend) on its way up. The crowd shouted and so, like so many other decisions the crowd (at both ends) made for the Ref, it had to be a penalty. Tubbs' effort was one of those cheeky chips straight down the middle that made your reporter (a goalkeeper of very little repute himself) wonder why keepers don't wait until the split second the penalty is taken before making a decision on where to dive. One day a keeper will stand there and catch the ball...

So, that was it. Another "one of those days" match that unfortunately is occurring all too regularly at the moment and is threatening to ensure City finish 6th for the 3rd time in their Conference history. Goals have stopped flowing as they did a couple of months back and, when they stop happening at one end, nerves ensure they start happening more often at the other end. In pure terms of creating chances, this performance probably outstripped that at Stevenage (and against Halifax a couple of weeks back) but crucially in those games City got a goal and didn't make silly errors at the other end. City will (and have) play far worse than this and win, but with games running out you can be sure that fans, players and management alike would rather win ugly than lose pretty - starting with in-form Northwich on Saturday.