Eastbourne Borough (0)0 Bath City (0)0

The points were shared between Eastbourne Borough and Bath City at a breezy Priory Lane in a game that was dominated by the hosts in the first half and, whilst City held the upper hand after the break, they were unable to find a winning strike.

Despite playing up the slope against the elements, the Somerset side created a glorious opportunity to take the lead inside the opening 2 minutes. Sol Pryce, starting in place of the injured Ryan Brunt, broke down the right and slipped the ball to Ross Stearn who had only goalkeeper Mark Smith to beat. However, the wideman contrived to place his shot narrowly wide of the near post, and the chance was lost.

Stearn forced Mark Smith into action again in the 6th minute following James Morton’s cross into the box, but the effort would not have counted given a raised offside flag.

The home side now began to take control of proceedings with Tobi Adebayo-Rowling causing untold mayhem down the right flank. His 9th minute cross flew dangerously across the face of Ryan Clarke’s goal and, six minutes later, his next delivery was met with a firm Dave Martin header that was tipped over the bar by the City stopper.

Another cross from the same source on 18 minutes found Josh Bingham, whose effort was deflected over the crossbar, and Stefan Ljubicic’s shot was also deflected wide for another corner.

Mike West’s 22nd minute driven corner found Kristian Campbell beyond the far post, and his firm rising drive struck the top of the City bar. Adebayo-Rowling then cut inside from the right and crashed a shot goalwards that was brilliantly pushed over the top by the busy Clarke.

The visitors were struggling to retain possession and were constantly on the back foot as the home pressure continued. Indeed, Borough should have taken the lead on 35 minutes when a right wing cross from Adebayo-Rowling picked out the unmarked Ljubicic at the far post, but the centre forward headed wide of a gaping net.

Three minutes before the interval Sergio Torres, who was pulling the strings in midfield, clipped a clever ball over the City back line into the path of Ljubicic, but the striker volleyed wide of the target from a good position.

The half time whistle could not come soon enough for the Romans and they were hugely relieved to enter the break with the scores level. Jerry Gill made some tactical changes ahead of the restart, with Tom Smith replacing Joe Romanski, and the side reverting to a 4-3-3 formation in an attempt to deny space for the rampant Adebayo-Rowling.

With the elements now in their favour, City immediately gained a foothold in the midfield areas and began to push forward in numbers. Stearn’s speculative effort from distance was high and wide, and Joe Raynes shot from outside the box in the 50th minute was also wide of Mark Smith’s framework.

A typically brave block by Frankie Artus denied Ljubicic a shot at Clarke’s goal, but it was Bath who continued to look the more threatening going forward. Mark Smith was grateful that Stearn’s 55th minute half volley from the edge of the home box was straight at him, and the keeper made a good diving save to repel Anthony Straker’s shot from 25 yards four minutes later.

Andy Watkins replaced the injured Artus on 68 minutes, and City continued to have the better of proceedings. The home custodian made another useful intervention low down to keep out Stearn’s shot on 76 minutes, and then pulled off his best save of the game with 10 minutes left on the clock, when he palmed away a fierce Tom Smith shot from the edge of the area.

City came desperately close to snatching all three points in the 87th minute, but Straker’s drive from 25 yards fizzed narrowly wide of the far post with the goalkeeper rooted.

There was a nervous moment for the visitors deep into stoppage time when substitute Andrew Briggs went down in the City box but, much to the relief of the travelling support, eagle-eyed referee Mr. Dean Skipper judged that the Eastbourne man had taken a dive, and a yellow card was duly waved in his direction.

It was an afternoon of frustration for the visitors, and they were unable to turn their second half dominance into three points. However, given the number of chances that Eastbourne created before the break, defeat would have been extremely harsh for them. Bath were strangely out of sorts during the opening 45 minutes, and the freedom that Adebayo-Rowling found the down the right wing was nothing short of alarming. Great credit must be given though for City’s tenacious and determined defending for long periods in the face of adversity, and Clarke was nothing short of commanding between the sticks. A point keeps Jerry Gill’s men firmly in the play-off hunt and next week’s visit of Woking will be eagerly anticipated.

Eastbourne Borough; Mark Smith, Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Kristian Campbell, Kane Wills, Marvin Hamilton (Andrew Briggs 86), Corey Jordan, Mike West, Sergio Torres, Stefan Ljubicic, Josh Bingham (Charlie Walker 61), Dave Martin (Harry Ransom 61). Subs not used, Brad Santos, Sam Howes.

Bath City; Ryan Clarke, Jack Batten, Robbie Cundy, Joe Romanski (Tom Smith HT), Anthony Straker, Joe Raynes, James Morton, Frankie Artus (Andy Watkins 68), Ross Stearn, Freddie Hinds, Sol Pryce. Subs not used; Kevin Amankwaah, Dan Ball, Harvey Wiles-Richards.

Referee; Mr. Dean Skipper.

Attendance; 587

Thanks for that report. When reading about the problems they caused us down our left flank I had a sense of deja-vu and, sure enough looking back to the Eastbourne home game report, I found I'd replied that "Straker had a torrid time but stuck to his task as Eastbourne repeatedly worked a situation where he was being easily out-manoeuvred and a stream of crosses was coming in from our left side". Jerry doesn't miss many tricks but it sounds like on this occasion he was a little behind the curve.

Thanks, KK, an extremely fair report and overall a fair result too.  I've seen 0-0 draws a lot less entertaining than that one.

Borough-angled highlights on this link.  And no, it wasn't a penalty.... (though the old phrase of "seen them given" comes to mind!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIdKth01828

Best wishes to you lot.

Kevin Anderson wrote:Thanks, KK, an extremely fair report and overall a fair result too.  I've seen 0-0 draws a lot less entertaining than that one.

Borough-angled highlights on this link.  And no, it wasn't a penalty.... (though the old phrase of "seen them given" comes to mind!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIdKth01828

Best wishes to you lot.

Thanks Kevin.

Having watched the highlights through the attached link, I don't think they are 'Borough-angled' at all.  I think that they give a fairly true reflection of the balance of the game and the chances created by both sides.  

With regard to the 'penalty' incident, I was behind the other goal at the time and had no idea what actually happened.  Having seen the highlights I don't think it was a penalty but, as you say, I have seen them given.  Obviously a great decision from our perspective!!

Good luck in gathering enough points to stay out of the relegation dog fight.

Kevin Porter (aka KK)

Thanks Kevin. Some good highlights there and a very fair interview with the Eastbourne guy afterwards. If we fail to go up I'm sure we'll be seeing you again next season - Borough have given us two very tough matches and I think there are far worse teams at the wrong end of the table.

And Kevin (Porter), Kevin (Anderson) assures me that the pitch is flat!

comrade powell wrote:

And Kevin (Porter), Kevin (Anderson) assures me that the pitch is flat!

Yes Comrade, I remember having this same debate with Kevin Anderson a couple of years ago. I remain unconvinced!! Perhaps I should take a spirit level with me next time!

Good to see you again Kevin A and as Powell says, seen far worse teams. Hemel being one, if you play like you did yesterday against them you’ll get that elusive win.

Haven’t watched the highlights yet but I did the audio ones on the way home. First half I only had the Stearn chance as anything involving us, second only the penalty appeal involving Eastbourne.

Thanks KK for the report which exiles such as me always enjoy. I guess we're not exactly showing promotion form currently through suffering a bit from non availability through injuries. However, we're not conceding or losing, and look set fair to be in the mix at the season's end.

Fair play for to making it clear that it was a dive on the video. I imagine many teams would have glossed over it very quickly on their own coverage.

Well, I'm one of those sad folk who notice if a wall electrical socket is slightly out of plumb, or a picture on the wall is not level......and then level it, even if I'm in someone else's house. Probably explains why we don't get invited out much these days!
And, I will state categorically that the pitch at Eastbourne is on a slope (sorry KA).
Anyway, really enjoyed the highlights. Yes, we were poor 1st half, but second half, with the slope in our favour I was convinced we would win. I thought Smith in the Eastbourne goal did very well and was a good 'Sport' especially when we were taking the Mickey with our 'warning, large vehicle reversing' banter with him.
Also, the highlights showed that the Loop Bus does run to a timetable. A pity it didn't for our two journeys on it!
Onwards and upwards. Woking at home on Saturday, followed by Welling away could have a major bearing on how the season will pan out.
Also, what greater incentive could we have when you look at the Green Slime plummeting towards a Twerton Park derby next season.
I'm telling you Brian.

kermit wrote:
Also, what greater incentive could we have when you look at the Green Slime plummeting towards a Twerton Park derby next season.

I see that Yeovil sacked Way over the weekend - I was really hoping he would stay as I am pretty sure he would have taken them down. Still, Macca are only 2 points behind them now with a game in hand, so fingers remain crossed.

On social media today the number one choice to replace him among the Yeovile fans was our own Jerry Gill - the fact that he has just signed that new contract didn’t  seem to be seen as much of a barrier. Time will tell.

Another rumour is that ex-Rovers boss Darrell Clarke is the most likely to get the Yeovil job - locally based, two promotions on his CV and, best of all from our point of view, a free agent so no financial compensation to worry about.

They don't want a manager untested at league level in their precarious position!

Yes I feared Yeovil would have an interest in JG if they get relegated, but they certainly want an experienced manager at that moment and I for one hope they stay up. JG needs to get us up I think before a League side come looking.

Gary Johnson would be the ideal appointment...

If the unthinkable should happen, let's hope they don't stitch us up like last time when they sold Jerry to Birmingham City in a joint deal with Howard Thorrington ( I think).
Claimed HT was sold for mega bucks and JG for two and sixpence so they could reduce our sell on clause.

Howard Forinton?

Stitch us up?

comrade powell wrote:Stitch us up?

Sew what!