Bath City (4)5 Chippenham Town (0)0

Bath City started the new year with an emphatic and stylish victory over local rivals Chippenham Town in the return A4 Derby match at Twerton Park.  A first half goal blitz left the Wiltshire side trailing by a margin of four goals at the interval and, whilst they improved after the break, they were unable to avoid a crushing defeat at the hands of the rampant hosts.

City immediately produced some enterprising play and posed a goal threat as early as the second minute.  Ross Stearn chased a through ball towards the Town area but was foiled as keeper Brad House came off his line quickly to clear the danger.  

Despite being largely on the back foot, Chippenham created an opening in the 8th minute when Jack Compton’s free kick from the left was flicked on , but Curtis McDonald hooked the ball over Ryan Clarke’s crossbar.  

It was the home side that continued to press forward and they took the lead in the 18th minute.  Michee Efete weaved his way past a couple of challenges as he drove into the box and was then felled by an ill-timed challenge.  The referee, Mr. Robert Massey-Ellis, had no hesitation in awarding a penalty, and Anthony Straker duly sent House the wrong way with his spot-kick.

The Bluebirds, curiously playing in green, tried to respond from the re-start, and Clarke was forced into tipping a wickedly curling cross by Compton over the bar.  However, City were now playing some neat football with Chippenham struggling to deal with Efete’s pace and power down the right.  Indeed, it was Efete’s 22nd minute blocked shot that bounced into the path of Stearn, which allowed the latter to extend his side’s lead by finding the corner of the net from a difficult angle.

Town were reeling in the face of the onslaught from the Romans and they were further behind after 28 minutes.  Adam Mann’s shot was deflected towards Joe Raynes, whose subsequent effort fell kindly to Stearn, and he tucked the ball into the corner beyond the hapless House.

The hosts were now in almost total control and were hungry to add to the scoreline.  The fourth goal arrived on 33 minutes when Straker cut in from the left and found Robbie Cundy on the edge of the area.  The centre-half took the ball in his stride and unleashed a firm drive into the bottom corner.

Buoyed by their commanding advantage, Jerry Gill’s men were playing some wonderful football and Chippenham were, quite simply, being blown away.  Frankie Artus slid a delightful through ball into Mann’s path and the striker advanced towards the area, rounded House, but saw his eventual angled shot pass the wrong side of the far post.  Straker then sent over a low cross from the left that was deflected just over his own bar by Callum Gunner.

The Bluebirds came slightly more into the game as the interval approached and Clarke had to be at his best to brilliantly push away a dipping cross from Kieran Parselle. Nick McCootie then glanced a header wide of Clarke’s far post following a free-kick by James Guthrie from the right.

Chippenham introduced two substitutes ahead of the resumption and immediately it became clear that they would be employing a more robust approach.  There was a flare up in the 46th minute when Raynes was scythed down by Dean Evans and McDonald blasted the ball at the prone midfielder, before being correctly shown a yellow card.  Stearn was also cautioned for expressing his displeasure during the ensuing fracas.

City hammered the final nail in Town’s coffin on 54 minutes when Mann was put through by a precise Stearn flick on.  The forward raced towards the box and, as House committed himself, he calmly clipped the ball over the keeper and into the net for an exquisite finish.

James Guthie sent a 65th minute freekick into Bath’s defensive wall as the visitors sought a degree of consolation, but they were struggling to make any impression on the well drilled home rearguard.  Tom Smith and Ryan Brunt replaced Artus and Stearn respectively and, sandwiched between, Mann sent a free-kick over House’s bar from the edge of the area.

Twice in the 80th minute James Morton free-kicks into the Chippenham box narrowly eluded Cundy but City were content to retain possession and run down the clock.  The visitors pushed forward in the latter stages with a cross from the left being headed goalwards by Will Richards, but a deflection took the pace off the ball allowing Clarke to gather comfortably.  McCootie then had a clear run at goal, only for Clarke to save smartly at his feet.  McCootie regained possession of the loose ball and crossed to Tariq Ossai in a good position, but the substitute blazed wastefully over the crossbar.

This was an exhilarating and exciting performance by The Romans and the margin of victory could well have been greater.  Chippenham were unable to cope with the passing, pace and movement of their hosts, particularly in the first half and, in the end, they were a very well beaten side.  City took a haul of 10 points out of 12 from their four festive fixtures and now sit in 5th position in the National League South with a good base from which to launch an assault on securing a play-off place come the end of April.  Today, they certainly showed that they have the flair and organisation to achieve their aim.

Bath City: Ryan Clarke; Kevin Amankwaah, Robbie Cundy, Jack Batten; Michee Efete, Frankie Artus (Tom Smith 66), Joe Raynes, James Morton, Anthony Straker; Adam Mann, Ross Stearn (Ryan Brunt 72).  Subs not used: Harvey Wiles-Richards, Matt Richards, John Mills.

Chippenham Town: Brad House; George Rigg, Will Richards, Callum Gunner, Nat Jarvis, Jack Compton (Tariq Ossai HT), James Guthrie, Kieran Parselle, Curtis McDonald (Rhys Davies 66), Nick McCootie, Josh Smile (Dean Evans HT).  Subs not used: Karnell Chambers, Will Puddy.

Referee: Mr. Robert Massey-Ellis.

Attendance: 1,727.

I thought the referee had a good game. Only really got involved when he had to.

tovid wrote:I thought the referee had a good game. Only really got involved when he had to.

Totally agree tovid.  Didn't really notice him today and he applied common sense when things could have got out of hand a couple of times.  No ridiculous decisions which made a pleasant change.

It was the eleventh penalty he’s awarded in this league this season, which is very high, but I doubt many others have been that obvious.