Bath City (1)4 Truro City (0)0

Bath City won their third successive National League South match at Twerton Park, this time disposing of struggling Truro City.  Whilst the final four-goal margin of victory would suggest a comfortable victory, the Somerset side were greatly indebted to an outstanding penalty save from Max O’Leary at a time when they led by only Axel Andresson’s first half strike.

The game commenced with snowflakes fluttering from the skies, and both sides took time to settle into any rhythm.  The first opening fell to home skipper Frankie Artus on 5 minutes, but his rising shot from 20 yards flew over Martin Rice’s crossbar.  

It was not until the 22nd minute that either side managed any further goal attempt.  Nick McCootie showed commendable persistence to win possession out on the right and, when he eventually drove a low cross into the box, Andy Watkins’ sliding effect was just wide of the near post.  Four minutes later, Billy Murphy delivered an inviting free kick into the danger area, but nobody in stripes was able to find a telling touch, with Ben Adelsbury helping the ball behind for a corner that came to nothing.

The home side were slightly on top at this stage, and took the lead in the 34th minute.  Artus tried his luck again from outside the box and, this time, his shot was blocked by a defender’s arm, and the referee, Mr. Will Finnie, pointed to the spot.  After persistent penalty woes endured by numerous attempters, Andresson stepped forward and confidently found the bottom corner of the net despite Rice going the right way.

Rice made a comfortable save to keep out McCootie’s low shot from 20 yards, but the visitors wasted a good chance to restore parity three minutes before the break.  Former Cityman Tyler Harvey squared the ball from the right into the path of Connor Riley-Lowe, only for the midfielder to fire wastefully over O’Leary’s bar.

The hosts began the second period brightly, and Murphy’s right wing corner was nodded wide of the far post by debutant Shawn McCoulsky.  Marvin Morgan found Artus with a neat pass on the hour mark, but the skipper lifted his shot over the target from a similar position to Riley-Lowe’s earlier effort.  Morgan then dragged his shot badly wide after finding space on the left hand side of the Truro area.

Thereafter, the White Tigers, playing in orange, came more into the game and began to dominate possession.  A corner from the right was met with a flicked header by Harvey which drew a useful save from O’Leary, but Truro had a golden opportunity to draw level on 74 minutes.  Andresson was robbed by substitute Niall Thompson out wide on the right, who then made good ground into the box before being tripped by the trailing centre-half.  Thompson dusted himself down but saw his spot kick brilliantly saved by O’Leary at full stretch, the keeper then doing extremely well in recovering to smother the loose ball.

Chas Hemmings replaced Morgan, and the visitors were now clearly deflated by their missed opportunity.  Rice came perilously close to being dispossessed by the marauding McCootie after an under hit back pass on 79 minutes, but the custodian’s luck ran out a minute later when Murphy’s shot from 25 yards was deflected beyond him and into the net.

The home side were now in almost total control, and it came as no surprise when the lead was further increased after 85 minutes.  Watkins raced into the area from the right, exchanged passes with McCootie, and then drilled a low shot into the net past the hapless Rice.

As the pressure on the Truro goal continued, Rice produced a good save to keep out McCootie’s powerful drive and then tipped McCoulsky's follow up header round the post. At the other end, Adelsbury’s speculative shot from 30 yards was straight at O’Leary.

Shaquille Hunter came on for McCoulsky in the 92nd minute, but there was still time for The Romans to strike again.  Artus picked out Watkins in acres of space with a perfect cross field pass, and the marksman took full advantage by despatching the ball into the far corner from the edge of the box.

In the end, this was a decisive victory for Gary Owers’ men, but there is no doubt that the pivotal moment of the match was O’Leary’s penalty save.  It not only took the wind out of Truro’s sails, but also reinvigorated the home team, who took full toll with some clinical finishing late on.  Bath will now travel to Oxford City on Tuesday night in quiet confidence as they look to extend their seven game unbeaten run.

Bath City: Max O'Leary; George Rigg, Jack Batten, Axel Andresson, Miles Welch-Hayes, Frankie Artus, Andy Watkins, Billy Murphy, Nick McCootie, Marvin Morgan (Chas Hemmings 77), Shawn McCoulsky (Shaquille Hunter 90+2). Subs not used: Josh Hutchinson, Sekani Simpson, Naby Diallo.

Truro City: Martin Rice; Ben Adelsbury, Jamie Richards, Connor Riley-Lowe, Aaron Bentley, Arran Pugh, Ollie Knowles, Tyler Harvey, Andrew Neal (Niall Thompson 63), Dan Smith (Stewart Yetton 80), River Allen (Alex Byrne 63). Subs not used: Ryan Brett, Austen Booth.

Referee: Mr. Will Finnie.

Attendance: 543.

Sounds like it was a breathless afternoon. Very glad for Watto, but it would be nice if our other strikers could find the net.

I would love to see Nick score.

To me he was MOM yesterday and would have been had he got a goal. He is perfectly capable of lashing one in from anywhere and if he started scoring we would really have a player on our hands.

Hopefully McCoulsky will improve with fitness gained.

Now that I've accepted that Nick will never be that fox in the box, I'm appreciating his value to this team. He is a nightmare for defenders when running with the ball out wide and is capable of playing some very dangerous balls into the box. That's where we need the ruthless finisher who can feed off his and Watkins' powerful runs.

Nobody yet mentioned that we scored two goals when Morgan went off and McCootie was pushed up (set up Watkins for one of his).
The last time we won 4-0 at home, Morgan wasn't playing (cue jokes).
Last time Morgan was substituted (27 mins v Basingstoke) we went on to win 2-0
Coincidence?

Yesterday very much reminded me of Wales rugby win against Italy last weekend (bear with me). In the end a massive score but for much of the match we were unconvincing against fairly poor opposition and could have easily ended up on the end of a worse result. The analogy falls down in that Truro never took the lead. Also, we do have tougher challenges next week but not of the level that Wales faced yesterday with England.

Anyway, enough of the egg-chasing, as has been mentioned, the defining moment was the penalty save by Max O'Leary (who used to live up my street apparently). At that moment, we were making hard work of building on our 1-0 lead, not really making any chances and Truro were putting on sustained pressure that led to the penalty. Indeed, when it was obvious Hemmings was coming, we surmised it was to shore up the midfield to protect a 1-0 lead. Indeed, I am not sure that that wasn't the original intention.

I don't know what is going on with Morgan but his goal return is terrible and his displays are completely underwhelming. He certainly flattered to deceive early in the season which may somewhat explain why his inability to score since November has snuck under my radar. He can't even be given the benefit of the doubt for assisting in Watkins' purple patch since then as Nick has done much more in that respect. As usual, I am not personally having a pop at the player as he is, I am sure, trying his hardest but I can't understand why he isn't given a rest for the team's and, perhaps, his own good especially now we have brought in McCoulsky. If I were Hutchinson, Hunter and Diallo (when we play a 433 to accommodate Nick, Marvin and McClousky), I would be wondering what I had to do to start. I am not calling for Owers' head or anything as he is mostly very astute in his loan signings and is doing well with our usual small squad but he does make some odd choices - Morgan's consistent appearance being the main one.

Just watched it on Romans on Demand. Glad I didn't travel up for that one as it would have been difficult driving back with a neckbrace on!