Click here to listen to Glenn's post-match interview.

City negotiated a difficult encounter with Weston-super-Mare to claim maximum points and jump to second in the table, recovering from an interval deficit to launch a stunning second-half fight back with goals from David Rainford, Kezie Ibe and Warren Whitely.

 

Glenn Pennyfather’s team went in at the break a goal down courtesy of Sahr Kabba’s 39th-minute stunner, but the trio of strikes after the break recovered the situation and rendered Nat Pepperell’s 93rd-minute penalty obsolete. The Seagulls also had Nabi Diallo dismissed late in the game for a second caution.

 

With an element of relief, Glenn always believed his team would get the result, claiming: “We know teams come here and try to make life difficult for us and we’ve fallen foul of that a few times this year, unfortunately. But we’ve now had back-to-back victories in the league at home which has put us into second position, the best we can possibly be at the moment, and hopefully we can push on from there.”

 

Winger Ricky Modeste came in for Ismael Welsh as the only change to the side which defeated Havant & Waterlooville at the weekend, and the hosts continued in the same vein, with Sam Corcoran’s wild free kick from an angle on the left causing goalkeeper Lloyd Irish concern at his near post. Irish was then to suffer a horrific collision with one of his own players later, needing a lengthy spell of treatment.

 

Glenn felt that was significant, adding: “That completely took away the momentum from us. We went from being in fifth gear at full throttle to coming down to third gear and we seemed to see the rest of the half out and, in the process conceded a really poor goal to one of few shots on goal from Weston in the first half.”

 

There was a sign of things to come on 27 minutes when Kabba wriggled into the danger zone and fired wide of Stuart Searle’s near post. As Weston’s sole threat, Kabba then caused serious damage in the 39th when he collected the ball from a defensive slip, raced through to round ‘keeper Searle and rolled into an empty net. He almost followed suit moments later, but Kenny Clark recovered to get a foot to the ball.

 

It was a reshuffled Clarets line-up which went into the dressing room at half time, with central defender Justin Miller needing to go off injured just after the half-hour point to be replaced by winger Alex Osborn. Ben Nunn filled-in at centre half while Corcoran played at right-back and Osborn on the wing until the break.

 

Glenn revealed: “We said to them at half time it’s going to need big characters, big hearts and big desire and they showed that in bucket loads. They were positive with their passing and switching David back to centre half, bringing Alex Osborn on and then Sam Corcoran back into the central area paid dividends.”

 

It certainly did, and the reinvigorated Clarets were rewarded for their burst of energy with an equaliser after the boss’ second set of changes. Corcoran delivered a well-weighted, 59th-minute dead ball from square on the left and Rainford jumped highest to thump a free header powerfully into the top corner of the helpless Irish’s goal.

 

That proved crucial to how the game panned out and Weston were further stifled by a brilliant move finished off by Ibe on 66 minutes. Rainford spotted a cross-field pass to Osborn from his makeshift defensive position and the young winger steamed down the right wing, cut inside and laid the ball back for the Clarets’ striker to poke incisively inside the small space between Irish and the near upright from close range.

 

Osborn himself executed a volley from the edge of the area in the 70th minute which rocketed inches clear of the crossbar, while Whitely could have fared better with his first touch after coming off the bench, following suit when far better placed. But a crucial nail in Weston’s coffin arrived on 85 minutes as their caution count got the better of them and Diallo collected his second for a foul, equating to a dismissal.

 

That set the scene for the rest of the game and Whitely atoned for his earlier miss with an opportunist 90th-minute third. When presented with time and an open shooting opportunity from 15 yards, Irish blocked his initial effort but the ball looped up into the air and Whitely got enough on his header to roll it over the goal line.

 

The action didn’t end there and a late surge from the visitors saw Kabba felled by Searle’s challenge in the corner of the penalty box and the referee’s assistant deemed it to be worthy of a spot kick. Pepperell made no mistake in dispatching what ultimately proved to be a formality for the seventh-placed team.

 

Victory was particularly sweet given the visitors’ approach, and Glenn said: “I think there was a bit of time-wasting going on. It was slow once they’d scored the goal then unbelievably quick when we went 2-1 up! They’ve got to do what they’ve got to do. They’ve done really well this season and, after speaking to their Manager, they feel they’re overachieving a little bit. They played super football down at their place.”

 

City:

 

1 Stuart Searle

2 Ben Nunn

3 Aiden Palmer

4 Justin Miller

5 Kenny Clark

6 David Rainford (C)

7 Craig Parker

8 Sam Corcoran

9 Kezie Ibe

10 Max Cornhill

11 Ricky Modeste

 

12 Cliff Akurang (On for Ibe, 84)

14 Alex Osborn (On for Miller, 34)

15 Ishmael Welsh

17 Warren Whitely (On for Modeste, 75)

19 Alex Rossis (GK)

 

Weston-super-Mare: Lloyd Irish, Chris Young, Martin Slocombe, Ben Cleverley, Matt Villis (C), Jamie Laird, Dayle Grubb (Jack Camm, 87), Nabi Diallo, Sahr Kabba, Brett Trowbridge, Nat Pepperell. Unused Substitutes: Marc McGregor, Jake Mawford.

 

Bookings: City: Modeste (45+3, foul), Searle (90+3, foul). Weston: Diallo (17, foul and 85, foul), Young (27, foul), Trowbridge (58, foul).

 

Sent Off: Weston: Diallo (85, second bookable offence).

 

Referee: Paul Harris.

 

Assistant Referees: Nic Evans and Peter Georgiou.

 

Attendance: 701.

 

City Man of the Match: Alex Osborn.