City 5 (Straker 18m pen, Stearn 22m, 28m, Cundy 33m, Mann 54m) v Chippenham 0 Att1727

Morton starts for Smith, with Brunt back on bench.

Fabulous performance by the entire team. I think we deserved it after battering Chipnum on Boxing Day and we gave them another whalloping today. How they are so high up the table is hard to fathom as they offered minimal threat over the two games.
Frankie ran his socks off and it was probably a warning that he was getting tired when he fouled the lad on the touchline so the booking was inevitable. Morton was class, Kevin had his best game ever for us, Cundie was imperious, Joe seemed to be everywhere and Efete was a revelation. I think we now know what is his best position. They couldn't handle him first half.
Lovely goal from Mann to top it off.
Great start to the new year.

The first 35 minutes was some of the best football we have played for a long time and better sides than Chippenham would have struggled to live with us. It was good that we turned the pressure into goals because that has sometimes been our downfall in the past.

Efete was a revelation in the first half. I have had doubts about his defensive qualities but the wing back role, especially with ‘big Kev’ behind, really seems to suit him and Chippenham had no answer.

We really did look like scoring every time we attacked in the first half, and if Adam Mann’s shot that rolled just past the post had gone in I don’t think 5-0 at half time would have flattered us (although it might have done Chippenham!).

The fifth goal coming so early in the second half killed the game off to some extent, but City could have scored at least a couple more if Robbie Cundy had connected with two free kicks. It meant that they didn’t really need to exert themselves too much thereafter, which was good with games still coming thick and fast.

I did like the ‘you’re just a team of rejects’ chant after the fourth goal went in!

All in all a great start to the year.

I went into the game knowing that if Chippenham replicated the performance at Hardenhuish, we would win. Yet I had this sinking feeling that something would go wrong, maybe last year on my mind when I was convinced it would be a bad night.

Ok, you could say an element of fortune for one or two, but the way we pressed and harried them was fantastic. We were first to every loose ball, looked menacing every time we went forward and, in truth, looked like we wanted it more. And it's not often I would say that about an opposition playing Chippenham, I've seen them play enough times as a neutral and they've always been hard-working, difficult to play against. I thought, as bad as we were in this game last season, they were extremely good. Today they were a shadow of that, and we were a thousand times better.

The formation works because people are playing in positions that suit them. Efete is excelling as a wing-back and, as Les mentions, is helped with Amankwaah behind him. Big praise for him as well, could have thrown the dummy out being left out so often but gives the impression he'll get on with it and knuckle down. Straker is a quality player wherever he's put, goes up in my estimation as he can take a penalty, too! Sent keeper wrong way in all, Cantona-esque. Mann and Stearn were a nuisance, Raynes my motm in midfield, best performance for the club for me, ably assisted by Morton and Artus. Then there's a free-scoring centre-back, a solid sidekick revelling in playing in a settled team and a top keeper. I'd heap further praise on those to come back in but it's late.

All in all a brilliant day - we showed 1,727 people that Twerton Park is the place to be and hopefully many of them will return. Even if it's 1,000 fewer against East Thurrock it's still a good effort, as it's bound to be another bumper crowd against Torquay...

Great game today and not much to add apart from-

It's not a back 5, it's a back 4. Efete is a right sided midfielder, sort of doing what he has been doing for a while but now with the back up of Kevin so he has no defensive duties. In some ways, as we had 3 players who have played right back, there was a bit of rotation on occasion between Joe, Kevin and Michee. I think that the current formation will work even better once they get used to the positioning - at one point, you could throw a blanket over the three of them. This is only a bit of formation pedantry, call it 3-5-3, 5-3-2, 4-4-2 or, let's face it, whatever Jerry wants to call it, it's working well

Efete was man of the match for me. He drew the penalty, was instrumental in the second goal - both of which really set us on our way - and ran them ragged all game leaving Compton with little chance of getting forward. I say this as someone who said that Stearn doesn't always get the recognition he deserves and he got two goals and MOTM today. Efete, however, was a revelation.

As I say, we had three right backs on today but we didn't really have a recognised striker yet we dominated and scored 5. I am not sure what this says about Brunt and Mills but, again, we worked well today (and Boxing Day) with other options available.

Only Torquay, Woking and St Albans have better records than us in the last four - where we are unbeaten - and the last team to beat us are in free fall. This while we have had a fairly small available squad over a very busy festive season.

I think that this festive period has shown two things - firstly that Jerry is dong a great job - so many new or irregular visitors remarked on how good the football was today - and, also, Jerry said that he was signing and retaining people not just players - he wanted the right personalities - and I think that strength of character and team spirit has really shown through over these three matches. There is still a long way to go but it bodes well.

Since Joe Raynes moved to a more central midfield role this has made a massive difference, he and Artus never give the opposition any time on the ball. Cundy has improved a great deal since the start of the season.
A very good crowd and reward for those who put in a lot of effort to make that happen.

Can only echo the previous comments. I'm trying to think of the last performance where we played so well throughout the team and won so convincingly. Perhaps the Boston 8-0....

We can't expect the players to replicate that in every match but a repeat against Torquay would be very nice!

SteveS wrote:A very good crowd and reward for those who put in a lot of effort to make that happen.

A very good point. Although a home fixture to our nearest rivals on a holiday (albeit without public transport) was always going to be a big crowd, yesterday's attendance was fantastic. There can be no doubt that this is down to many volunteers at the club - of which there has been a massive increase since community ownership. With the obvious appearance of many new attenders -especially families with young children - it was brilliant that the team also did their bit and produced such a great performance so well done all around.

I've been coming down for two years now almost and this was the best match i've seen . On the pitch we were excellent and looked a league above Chippenham. Off the pitch the ground was packed and looked great.

Did they catch the clown who set off the blue smoke bomb when we scored?

A new Bath City supporter - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dv6iOJZWsAEVf6G.jpg - only a puppy and its first game.

comrade powell wrote:Can only echo the previous comments. I'm trying to think of the last performance where we played so well throughout the team and won so convincingly. Perhaps the Boston 8-0....

We can't expect the players to replicate that in every match but a repeat against Torquay would be very nice!

I didn’t see the Boston 8-0 but for older readers yesterday reminded me of a game in the championship season in 1977 when we beat big-spending Kettering (managed by Derek Dougan) 5-0. We were 4-0 up at half time then as well, with a similarly breathtaking first 45 minutes.

Living in London I was unable to get to the Kettering game as it was an evening fixture. Luckily I saw the Weymouth 7-2 and Cheltenham 6-0 from the same glorious season - they were both a tad one sided...