Concord Rangers (0)0 Bath City (0)2

A battling performance by Bath City ensured that their season ended with a hard earned victory over Concord Rangers at The Aspect Arena.  The result confirmed a creditable seventh place finish in the Skrill South table, two places above their final day opponents.

The Romans commenced the game with a steady breeze behind them, a meteorological feature that unfortunately carried a constant and distinctly unpleasant aroma from the sewage treatment plant located at the Thames end of the ground.

With a hard and bouncy pitch, both sides struggled to put together any constructive passing movement or create clear-cut chances.  Dave Pratt was brought down by James White on the right wing after 10 minutes but, when Chris Allen played the resulting free kick into the box, Andy Gallinagh skied his effort over the crossbar, and the perimeter fence.

The visitors were looking the more dangerous team, and they came close to taking the lead two minutes later.  Dan Ball produced an inviting cross from the left, but Pratt’s header was wide of the far post.

The Beach Boys began to come more into the game in terms of possession, and almost took the Bath defence by surprise in the 16th minute.  Tony Stokes delivered a lofted cross from the right wing that bounced on top of Jason Mellor’s crossbar, and away to the safety of a goal kick.

Ball curled a shot over the home bar on 24 minutes and, at the other end, Stokes’ dangerous cross shot drew an excellent save low down from Mellor at the expense of a corner.  Beyond this there was precious little threat on goal from either side, and the game duly reached half time in largely uneventful fashion.

The second period saw the hosts moving forward with more purpose but they were unable to penetrate the City rearguard, with Mellor remaining a virtual spectator.  Indeed, it was Bath who continued to look the more likely to break the deadlock.  Josh Low’s right wing cross was met by Pratt, but his looping header landed on the top of the net, with Rangers keeper Jamie Butler anxiously stretching upwards.

On the hour mark, Steve King headed a cross from the left straight at the grateful Mellor, and White then fired over the crossbar from the edge of the box.

Lee Howells made a double substitution after 64 minutes, bringing on Ross Stearn and Aaron Brown for the injured duo of Dan Bowman and Sekani Simpson respectively.  Almost immediately, his side came desperately close to scoring when Allen’s fee kick found Pratt, whose glancing header passed a whisker wide of the far post.

Optimistic appeals for a City penalty on 71 minutes were turned away by the referee, Mr. Mike George, after Pratt had been blocked in the box by a Concord defender, but the Somerset side took the lead five minutes later.  Gallinagh slipped a slide rule pass into Adam Connolly’s path, and the midfielder beat Butler at his near post with a powerful drive from the edge of the box.

The home team tried to respond to their setback, but they were becoming visibly weary following their matches played on Wednesday and Thursday this week.  Substitute Steve Cawley tried his luck from 18 yards, but was well over the target with his angled shot.  Danny Glozier’s effort from a similar range met the same fate.

Danny Wring replaced Low with a minute left on the clock, and his introduction had a positive effect.  His through ball fell perfectly to Stearn who had a clear run on goal, and he made no mistake by slipping his shot under Butler and into the net.

City held out during the time remaining without undue alarm to record their 18th league victory of the season.

The final whistle was greeted joyfully by the travelling fans, and they were thanked by the players and management team for their support throughout the last nine months.  This was a deserved three points and their final league position shows good progress from the previous campaign.  Certainly, if the form of the last two months can be rediscovered in August, the 2014/15 season could possibly be one to savour.


CONCORD RANGERS: Jamie Butler, Leon Gordon, Danny Glozier, Steve King, Paul Goodacre, Matt Fry, Lewis Taafe, James White (Seedy Njie 84), Gary Ogilvie (Taylor Miles 73), Sam Collins, Tony Stokes (Steve Cawley 67). Subs not used: John Easterford, Jack Lampe.
BATH CITY: Jason Mellor, Sekani Simpson (Aaron Brown 64), Dan Ball, Phil Walsh, Andy Gallinagh, Chris Allen, Dan Bowman (Ross Stearn 64), Adam Connolly, Dave Pratt, Josh Low (Danny Wring 89), Joe Burnell. Subs not used: Scott Wilson, Noah Keats.
REFEREE: Mike George.
ATT:  302

Many thanks, KK, for all your efforts this season in writing match reports for the forum!

Indeed.Enjoy the rest! Thanks

Top report as usual. To be frank if professional reports were half as good as this then it would improve the sports pages no end.

Indeed, I don't bother with the Chronicle online sports pages due to the irritating pop-ups and voiceovers.
Kelston's write up is simply better anyway.

to be fair, i think the Chron's coverage of us continues to be good. it's a pity the rest of the paper (and website) doesn't reach such heights...

2weirdtown wrote:Indeed, I don't bother with the Chronicle online sports pages due to the irritating pop-ups and voiceovers.
Kelston's write up is simply better anyway.

The voiceovers can be paused but agree that it is so irritating. Same as most clubs in our league with those damn Pitchero sites.

I use - https://adblockplus.org/en/chrome - stops all pop ups etc.  On some websites it has to be disabled to allow the site to work correctly but this can easily be done on an ad hoc basis.  

Thank you for your kind comments. Glad to be of service.

Have a great summer one and all, and let's hope 2014/15 is a good'un.

Up the City.

Beau Nash wrote:I use - https://adblockplus.org/en/chrome - stops all pop ups etc.  On some websites it has to be disabled to allow the site to work correctly but this can easily be done on an ad hoc basis.  

Thanks for that