Bath City (2)5 Hungerford Town (0)0

Bath City demolished struggling Hungerford Town with their second successive five-goal haul at Twerton Park.  Having taken the lead early on through a Matt Richards penalty, the home side rarely looked in danger of letting their hold on the game slip, and were fully deserving of their three-point return.

Hungerford began the match trying to play a passing game, but succeeded only in regularly losing possession to their hosts.  Indeed, an ill-advised pass across the edge of his own area by James Rusby in the 3rd minute fell invitingly onto the path of Opi Edwards.  However, the flying winger was denied by a necessarily well-timed challenge by Alfie Kilgour.

The home faithful had to wait only six more minutes for their side to open the scoring when Andy Watkins went down under a challenge inside the area.  The referee, Mr. Aji Ajibola, pointed to the spot with a soft looking penalty award.  However, Richards was not in charitable mood and confidently stepped forward to send Town keeper Oliver Davies the wrong way from 12 yards.

The Crusaders were still having their fair share of the ball in midfield, but were unable to cause any problems for the home defence with Luke Southwood being a virtual spectator.  It was, therefore, only City that looked capable of increasing the scoreline as they began to produce some flowing moves.  Jack Compton delivered a 20th minute cross from the left that just eluded the leaping Edwards at the far post.

Edwards once again nearly profited from slack defensive work by the visitors and, although he was allowed to race towards the box, he was unable to beat the diving Davies with his eventual shot.  Tom Smith found space inside the Town box on 28 minutes but his goalbound effort was blocked by a defender.

As the openings continued, Smith cut inside from the left on the half hour mark but, this time, his low shot was saved by Davies.  James Morton then curled a shot high over the crossbar from the edge of the area.

The away side finally mustered an effort at goal in the 38th minute when Anton Rodger’s shot was well held by the under-employed Southwood.  

City continued to pose a threat going forward and finally made their pressure count three minutes before the interval.  Compton curled a pinpoint cross into the danger area from the left, and Edwards headed the ball firmly into the corner of the net from 6 yards out.

The hosts emerged after the break looking to put the game beyond Hungerford as they attacked the Bath end.  Edwards produced a run from deep inside his own half and his progress was only halted at the last moment, as Rhys Tyler blocked his shot with a last-ditch tackle.  The reprieve was only temporary, as Town failed to deal with the resulting corner and Andy Watkins was able to stab into the net from close range.

Jack Batten thought he had registered on 52 minutes following Compton free kick, but his ‘goal’ was cancelled out by an offside flag.

Hungerford tried gamely to find a foothold in the game but substitute Alex Wall nodded over Southwood’s bar and, on the hour mark, Nicholas Bignall broke through on goal, only for the home custodian to come off his line quickly to expertly block with his feet.

The Bath advantage was increased to four in the 64th minute when Compton’s right-wing corner was untidily bundled in at the near post by Batten.

Louis Soares sent a cross shot well wide of Southwood’s far post, before Dan Ball was replaced by Kevin Amankwaah on 67 minutes.  Watkins immediately broke free down the right flank and squared the ball invitingly into the path of Smith, but the midfielder fired wastefully over the bar from inside the area.

Watkins and Smith then made way for the introduction of Nat Jarvis and Oaklan Buck respectively as the hosts continued to dominate proceedings.  Jarvis found himself clean through on goal on 73 minutes, but succeeded only in dragging his shot wide of the post as Davies narrowed the angle.

Bignall’s 74th minute header was narrowly wide of the far post following a cross from the right, and this would prove to be the closest his side would come to troubling the scoreboard.  

Miles Welch-Hayes played a low cross into the Town area from the right and, in attempting to clear, Rusby sliced the ball narrowly over his own crossbar and, shortly afterwards, Edwards’ shot from 25 yards was deflected over the top for a corner.  Davies was then called upon to make a smart save by tipping a fierce rising shot from Edwards over his crossbar.

Edwards, who had just been named as ‘man of the match’, was now rampant and cut inside from the left, only for his rasping effort to be beaten away by the busy Davies.  However, the home side were not to be denied their fifth goal, as Compton found Jarvis with a ball in from the right in the 92nd minute, and the substitute turned his marker before squeezing his shot under Davies.

The Hungerford keeper was injured in his attempts to keep the ball out of the net and, consequently, was forced to leave the field of play.  With time almost up, the game concluded in slightly farcical circumstances as the replacement keeper, Marcus Beauchamp, was not immediately ready to take up his duties.  After a delay of some 2 minutes, the game restarted and ended without Beauchamp coming anywhere close to touching the ball.

This was a slick and enterprising performance by Jerry Gill’s charges, and Hungerford were rarely able to make any impression on the game or pose any threat to the home rearguard.  They are clearly a side struggling for form, but this must not be allowed to detract from City’s dominant display.  In truth, the margin of victory could have been much greater, but those in attendance on the Club’s Family Day were thoroughly entertained by their team.


Bath City: Luke Southwood; Miles Welch-Hayes, Jack Batten, Dan Ball (Kevin Amankwaah 67), Anthony Straker; Matt Richards, James Morton; Opi Edwards, Tom Smith (Oaklan Buck 71), Jack Compton; Andy Watkins (Nat Jarvis 70).  Subs not used: George Rigg, Kieran Hodges.

Hungerford Town: Oliver Davies (Marcus Beauchamp 90+4); Rhys Tyler, Scott Rees (Alex Wall 53), James Rusby, Alfie Kilgour, Richie Whittingham, Anton Rodgers, Louie Soares, Lewis Leigh-Gilchrist (Dan Bailey 69), Nicholas Bignall, James Clark. Subs not used: Philip John, Ian Herring.

Referee:  Mr. Aji Ajibola

Att:  847

Great stuff as usual. As you say it could easily have been more goals, we created and wasted loads of opportunities the most glaring of which was Tom Smith in the second half when surprisingly Watto gave him far too much to do with his pass into the middle.
Defensively we were very sound and it was a shame to see Dan Ball go off and almost immediately Kevin lost his man before he got into the game to allow a free header in the middle of the box which was wasted.
But it is difficult to be churlish when we were so comprehensively on top and saw it through. Well done to all involved and it was nice to see Jerry giving Oakland Buck a bit of game time having sat patiently on the bench for so long.