Bath City (0)1 Oxford City (2)3

Bath City were well beaten by high flying Oxford City on a windy and rain swept afternoon at Twerton Park. The visitors demonstrated the reasons for their lofty league position with some slick passing on the wet surface alongside a well organised defensive unit.

The opening exchanges were fairly even in terms of possession, but it was Oxford who created the first opportunity after three minutes. Central defender Jose Lapoujade ran at the Bath rearguard, but his eventual shot from 25 yards lacked the power to trouble Steve Phillips in the home goal.

The away side were posing the greater threat going forward and took the lead on 12 minutes. Ben Adelsbury was penalized for a foul 30 yards from goal and Omar Sterling-James delivered a dangerous free kick in the box. The ball was met with a thumping Connor McDonagh header from 15 yards out, that skidded into the net beyond the diving Phillips.

The hosts continued to have their share of possession, but were unable to make any impression on the Oxford back-line. The visitors were making better use of their time on the ball and were asking more questions going forward. It was no surprise, therefore, that the lead was doubled after 28 minutes when Phillips could only parry Sterling-James’ fiercely struck shot from 20 yards. Darren Pond reacted quickest to tuck the loose ball home from close range.

Oxford continued to threaten and, on the half hour mark, Carlos Pifarre Forner’s rising shot was deflected wide by Dan Ball’s timely challenge. Phillips then did well to save low down when Matt Coupe deflected a Sterling-James shot towards his own goal.

Bath should have reduced the arrears in the 36th minute when Frankie Artus curled in a delicious free kick from the right towards the far post, but the ball just eluded Kaid Mohamed when the slightest of touches would have surely resulted in a goal.

The hosts were almost handed a lifeline two minutes into the second period when Ashley Kington’s innocuous looking cross slipped from Laurie Walker’s grasp, but the Oxford goalkeeper was able to drop on the ball before the lurking Mohamed could pounce.

Thereafter, the pattern of the game continued as before, and Phillips was again called upon on 49 minutes to push Pifarre Forner’s shot round the post. However, Oxford found the net for the third time from the resulting corner when the ball eventually fell to Pifarre Forner on the edge of the box, and the midfielder’s sweetly struck drive beat Phillips’ outstretched arms.

Pond’s cross from the right was headed wide of the near post by McDonagh as Oxford continued to attack, but Bath came close to scoring in the 56th minute. Adelsbury’s goal-bound rasper from 25 yards was beaten away by Walker, and the keeper did extremely well to recover quickly enough to save Mohamed’s follow up effort.

Nick McCootie and Brad Williams replaced Dave Pratt and Artus respectively as Oxford began to sit back on their lead, and the hosts came more into the game. Despite this, the visitors came within a whisker of another goal after 70 minutes, when Luke Coulson’s low cross-shot passed a coat of varnish wide of Phillips’ far post.

A flowing move from Bath ended with the ball finding Mohamed in space beyond Walker’s far post, but the Cityman wastefully blazed his shot over the crossbar. Williams then sent a free kick into the box from the left which fell to Coupe, the defender’s attempt squirming under Walker’s body only to be cleared off the line.

At the other end, Julen Lafuente’s shot was deflected over the bar, and Kalam Patterson’s downward header from the corner kick was well saved by Phillips.

The home side registered a consolation goal two minutes into stoppage time when a Williams’ corner was eventually nodded forward by Adelsbury, and McCootie hooked the ball into the roof of the net from 6 yards. Indeed, there was still time for a powerful Coupe shot to be blocked on the goalline before the referee, Mr. Colin Lymer, blew the final whistle.

There is no doubt that Oxford City richly deserved their victory and, even if assisted at times by some wayward Bath passing, they played the best football seen at Twerton this season. They were quicker to the ball at the breakdown and their defense was well drilled but, despite this, the hosts still created a number of presentable openings. In the end, the telling factor was Oxford’s greater potency in the final third, and there was always the feeling that they had more gears to go through should the need have arisen.

Bath City: Steve Phillips, Dan Bowman, Andy Gallinagh, Matt Coupe, Dan Ball, Ben Adelsbury, Ashley Kington, Frankie Artus (Brad Williams 67), Dave Pratt (Nick McCootie 58), Andy Watkins, Kaid Mohamed. Subs not used: Chas Hemmings, Ashley Yeoman, Miles John.

Oxford City: Laurie Walker; Luke Coulson, Paul Stonehouse, Mamadou Forfana, Jose Lapoujade, Jon Arzemendia, Declan Benjamin (Amer Awadh 82), Darren Pond, Connor McDonough (Kalam Patterson 75), Omar Sterling-James (Julen Lafuente 66), Carlos Pifarre Forner. Subs not used: Kynan Isaac.

Referee: Mr. Colin Lymer.

Attendance: 616.

Yep, I'm afraid you've got it dead right there.

I don't agree that the hosts made a number of presentable openings. They had a handful of half chances. Fair play to their goalie for maintaining concentration sufficiently to beat out Addelsbury's late effort and then get to Kaid's sloppy follow up. Other than that he could have brought out a deck chair.

BenE wrote:I don't agree that the hosts made a number of presentable openings. They had a handful of half chances. Fair play to their goalie for maintaining concentration sufficiently to beat out Addelsbury's late effort and then get to Kaid's sloppy follow up. Other than that he could have brought out a deck chair.

In fairness Ben, Matt Coupe had two efforts cleared off the line (yes, I know they were both late on) and Kaid Mohamed completely missed his header in the first half from Frankie Artus' fee kick when he should have scored, and also fired over the top in the second half when he had a clear sight of goal.

I don't think that Oxford had many more chances than that despite their dominance. What they did was make the best of the opportunities that came their way.

I am not suggesting that City deserved to win but that, despite being second best for most of the game, they still had a few chances to score.

Kelston Koppite wrote:

BenE wrote:I don't agree that the hosts made a number of presentable openings. They had a handful of half chances. Fair play to their goalie for maintaining concentration sufficiently to beat out Addelsbury's late effort and then get to Kaid's sloppy follow up. Other than that he could have brought out a deck chair.

In fairness Ben, Matt Coupe had two efforts cleared off the line (yes, I know they were both late on) and Kaid Mohamed completely missed his header in the first half from Frankie Artus' fee kick when he should have scored, and also fired over the top in the second half when he had a clear sight of goal.

I don't think that Oxford had many more chances than that despite their dominance.  What they did was make the best of the opportunities that came their way.

I am not suggesting that City deserved to win but that, despite being second best for most of the game, they still had a few chances to score.

Agreed! On another day city could have won 3-1, but completely undeserved.

yep, it's a funny old game and that's why we like it.