Bath City (1)1 Hampton & Richmond Borough (0)1

Bath City’s persistent failure to convert chances from the penalty spot once again cost them dearly as they had to settle for a point against high flying Hampton & Richmond Borough at Twerton Park.  It was Frankie Artus who was the latest culprit, as his 88th minute effort was saved by Sam Howes after Marvin Morgan had been wrestled to the ground inside the area.

City began the game strongly and immediately put The Beavers defence under pressure.  Artus let fly from 25 yards in the 9th minute, but was just too high to trouble Howes, and Hampton responded two minutes later with a powerfully struck free kick by Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick which was repelled by the home defensive wall.

The hosts came desperately close to taking the lead on 16 minutes when Morgan’s low shot was deflected narrowly wide of the far post and, as they continued to press forward, George Rigg was extremely unlucky to be booked for what appeared to be an outstanding tackle on Josh Casey.

Billy Murphy’s free kick into the box was headed just wide by Axel Andresson, and Chas Hemmings’ angled shot in the 28th minute passed harmlessly wide of the far post.  

The pressure continued and Rigg’s 33rd minute free kick from the left fell to Andresson, with Howes forced into a good diving save to divert the centre half’s bundled effort behind, and City’s enterprise was finally rewarded from the ensuing corner.  Murphy delivered the ball into the box, where Jack Batten rose unopposed to thump an unstoppable header into the roof of the net.

At the other end, Hippolyte-Patrick was too high with an audacious overhead kick, and he also had a shot deflected behind for a corner, from which Joe Hicks headed over the crossbar.  Brendan Kiernan blazed another angled shot well wide of Max O’Leary’s far post five minutes before the break, but it was City who had enjoyed by far the better of the first 45 minutes.

Andy Watkins replaced the injured Andresson ahead of the restart, with Hemmings consequently moving back into the heart of the home defence.  Borough began to dominate possession in the midfield areas and the hosts were being pushed back deeper into their own territory as the minutes passed.  Despite their ascendancy, the visitors were struggling to create any clear cut openings and, on the hour mark, it was City who came closest to adding to the scoreline.  Miles Welch-Hayes’ cross from the left was laid into the path of Naby Diallo by Nick McCootie, but the midfielder shot tamely wide from an inviting position.

Murphy’s 63rd minute free kick into the Hampton box was directed towards Morgan who appeared to have his shirt tugged by a defender, but the referee, Mr. Marc Whaley, ignored pleas for a penalty.

The Beavers continued to push forward, and almost found an equaliser on 68 minutes when a cross from the left was met by Kiernan, only for his close range effort to be blocked on the line by a combination of O’Leary and Welch-Hayes.

Diallo was replaced by debutant loanee Conor Lemonheigh-Evans in the 76th minute, but three minutes later the scores were level.  A long free kick into the City box was flicked on to Nicke Kabamba, who calmly beat O’Leary from 8 yards.

Shaquille Hunter came on for the hard working McCootie after 84 minutes as Gary Owers sought to inject fresh legs into the fray.  Indeed, almost immediately, Lemonheigh-Evans shot straight at Howes, and two minutes later the home side had a golden opportunity to restore their lead.  Morgan was dragged to the ground inside the Hampton area and Mr. Whaley pointed to the spot.  There was an air of inevitability as Artus drilled his shot straight at Howes, and the acting skipper then nodded the loose ball on to the top of the net with his follow up effort.

Borough almost took full toll of their good fortune when Hicks rattled the home crossbar with a bullet header following a corner four minutes into stoppage time but, in the end, the sides had to content themselves with a point apiece.

The was a much improved performance by City, who had by far the better of the first half and defended well after the interval against strong opponents but, once again, the Somerset side paid the price for their mysterious and persistent profligacy from 12 yards.  However, there were far more positives than negatives to take from today’s showing, and they will hope to carry these into next week’s home match against Bishops Stortford as they continue their search for their first home league victory since mid-September.

Bath City: Max O'Leary; George Rigg, Jack Batten, Axel Andresson (Andy Watkins 46), Miles Welch-Hayes, Chas Hemmings, Billy Murphy, Frankie Artus, Nick McCootie (Shaquille Hunter 84), Marvin Morgan, Naby Diallo (Conor Lemonheigh-Evans 76). Subs not used: Sekani Simpson, Josh Hutchinson.

Hampton & Richmond Borough: Sam Howes; Michael Kamara, Josh Casey, Joe Hicks, Nathan Collier, Leon Solomon, Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick, Harold Odametey, Nicke Kabamba, Brendan Kiernan (Tom Jelley 90+2), Christian Jolley (Jerome Federico 71). Subs not used: Kieran Murphy, Seb Brown, Jay Gasson.

Referee: Mr. Marc Whaley.

Attendance:  615.

Great report. My summary would be:
• Morgan is a waste of space.
• Practice putting balls into the box much more. The quality is often poor.
• Chas was the right person for Centre Back. Anyone who saw Simmo at Welling would agree.
• It was a very encouraging performance, which ensures I'll be coming back for more next week.

That's great commitment, Demon, or are you on loan at a Bath school?

Agree it was a much better performance overall. Great report too.