Bath City (0)2 Hemel Hempstead Town (0)0

Two goals inside the final twelve minutes propelled Bath City to victory over a strong Hemel Hempstead Town side in a highly competitive match at a cold, but sunny, Twerton Park. With both teams struggling to fully master the tricky underfoot conditions, the game was always destined to be a close encounter.

The Tudors almost profited in the very first minute when an innocuous ball bounced into the City area. Ryan Clarke slipped as he attempted to gather and was grateful to Alex Hartridge, who reacted quickly to rob the lurking Sam Ashford of a simple tap in.

First half chances would prove to be at a premium with City’s first effort on goal coming in the 11th minute. Joe Raynes shot from the right hand point of the box, but the ball was directed straight into the arms of keeper Sam Beasant. Tom Smith then tried his luck from 20 yards ten minutes later, but his low drive was narrowly wide of Beasant’s post.

The Hemel goalkeeper took a free kick from the halfway line on 25 minutes that picked out Connor Essam inside the Bath box, only for the centre half’s header to loop wide of the target.

The hosts had the ball in the net on 27 minutes when Hartridge nodded the ball back across goal to Frankie Artus, who headed home. The celebrations were short-lived as the referee, Mr. Robert Massey-Ellis, awarded Town a free kick for a ‘nudge in the back’. Hemel responded with Freddie Grant’s firm shot from distance that passed just wide of Clarke’s far post.

With the break approaching, Smith saw his angled shot go well wide of the far post and, whilst City ended the half in the ascendancy, they were unable to carve out any further clear opportunities.

Now playing towards the Bath End, the home side began brightly after the restart. Raynes’ 47th minute cross from the right was met with a spectacular overhead kick by Sam Pearson that flew just over Beasant’s crossbar. Mr. Massey-Ellis then disallowed another City ‘goal’ in the 56th minute for a foul by Ryan Brunt in the lead up to Artus’s point blank strike.

Whilst The Tudors were always lively on the break and continued to share the balance of the midfield battles, it was the hosts who were now looking the more likely to break the deadlock. Hartridge’s shot on the hour mark was deflected for a corner, before Louis Britton came on for Artus.

Adam Mann collected the ball just inside the Hemel half and advanced goalwards before firing over Beasant’s bar. It was to prove to be Mann’s last contribution as he made way for Connor Riley-Lowe on 67 minutes. Two minutes later, Smith struck a shot from 25 yards that wobbled in the air, and was pushed away awkwardly for a corner by Beasant. The City midfielder then spotted Beasant off his line and tried to chip the ball over the keeper from the halfway line. Alas, his effort was well off target, with the gloveman consequently able to treat himself to a comedy dive.

In what proved to be a masterstroke by Jerry Gill, Ross Stearn was introduced to the action in the 75th minute at the expense of Pearson. Within two minutes the substitute was upended by Rob Sinclair in a central position on the edge of the Town box. Smith stepped forward to unleash a blistering rising drive that fizzed over the defensive wall, and bulleted onto the top corner of the net despite flicking Beasant’s outstretched fingertips.

Hemel continued to compete strongly, but they were unable to seriously threaten the City rearguard. In an effort to find an equaliser Tosan Popo tried a shot from distance, but was well wide of Clarke’s goal, and the outcome was finally settled in the 82nd minute following a mistake by the Hemel custodian. Beasant received a back-pass from one of his defenders and badly miscued his clearance to Stearn, who was 30 yards from goal. The Cityman took the ball under control, advanced goalwards, and expertly slotted his shot into the corner of the net beyond the stranded keeper.

The Romans were now rampant and Riley-Lowe crossed from the left towards Britton, but the striker was denied by a timely interception by Essam at the near post. At the other end, a cross from the right narrowly evaded Kofi Halliday in front of Clarke’s goal in the 89th minute, before Stearn’s shot from outside the box was straight at Beasant.

Raynes and Brunt exchanged passes down the right, only for the latter to glance the ball just wide of Beasant’s far post, and the final action saw Beasant make a brave save at Britton’s feet as he latched on to a through ball by Stearn.

This was another closely fought match and, for long periods, a draw appeared the most likely outcome. Although The Tudors stood toe to toe with their hosts for the majority of the game and were quick on the break, they were rarely able to truly threaten Clarke’s goal. On the other hand, City generally posed more questions going forward, gradually gained the upper hand as time wore on and, in the end, they were the worthy winners. However, there is no doubt that the introduction of Stearn proved crucial to his side securing the three points, but the undisputed highlight was Smith’s breathtaking strike for the opening goal.

Bath City; Ryan Clarke, Joe Raynes, Dan Bowry, Dan Ball, Alex Hartridge, Frankie Artus (Louis Britton 62), Tom Smith, Noah Chilvers, Adam Mann (Connor Riley-Lowe 67), Sam Pearson (Ross Stearn 75), Ryan Brunt. Subs not used; Harvey Wiles-Richards, Tom Richards.

Hemel Hempstead Town; Sam Beasant, Jacques Kpohomouh, Freddie Grant (Kofi Halliday 86), Tosan Popo, Connor Essam, Mitch Dickenson, Sam Ashford (Deon Moore h/t), Rob Sinclair, Jack Midson, Isaac Galliford, Tyrone Sterling. Subs not used; Lewis Collins, Jake Howells, Danny Boness.

Referee; Mr. Robert Massey-Ellis

Attendance; 1,095

Excellent report picking up all tha salient points.

I thought the city rearguard were excellent denying Hemel any real clearcut opportunities. Midfield was a battle with Hemel setting up in a rigid two banks of four. A defensive formation that was only breached with Stearn's introduction. But after the goal they had no more to offer.

Yes thought we dominated and the last 15 raised it. On an unbelievable run but have to say bowry, chillers and Pearson not at their best today but we still won. Bodes well

"Tom Smith blasted through the wall into the roof of the net. Then five minutes later he pounced on a poor clearance from Beasant to race forward and curl a shot past the stricken keeper, …."

on the website, reads as if Tom scored both goals!!!!

Is this an example of a quote taken out of context?

Very much so.

"... the introduction of Stearn on 76 minutes finally turned the game in their favour. Within a minute he won a free-kick right on the edge of the box which Tom Smith blasted through the wall into the roof of the net. Then five minutes later he pounced on a poor clearance from Beasant to race forward and curl a shot past the stricken keeper, reaching his half-century of City goals in the process."

Good job you were a Maths teacher, Colin!

I may be a maths teacher and I can count.

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD TOWN
H
W2-0
2
1095
T Smith, Stearn

"Then five minutes later he pounced on a …" suggests it was Tom Again. It was not.

Why hijack this post to criticise something on another site?

Backintheday wrote:Why hijack this post to criticise something on another site?

Sorry. Blame Yuffie!

yuffie wrote:Very much so.

"... the introduction of Stearn on 76 minutes finally turned the game in their favour. Within a minute he won a free-kick right on the edge of the box (which Tom Smith blasted through the wall into the roof of the net). Then five minutes later he pounced on a poor clearance from Beasant to race forward and curl a shot past the stricken keeper, reaching his half-century of City goals in the process."

Good job you were a Maths teacher, Colin!

As a maths teacher Colin will understand parentheses as introduced above.

tovid wrote:

yuffie wrote:Very much so.

"... the introduction of Stearn on 76 minutes finally turned the game in their favour. Within a minute he won a free-kick right on the edge of the box (which Tom Smith blasted through the wall into the roof of the net). Then five minutes later he pounced on a poor clearance from Beasant to race forward and curl a shot past the stricken keeper, reaching his half-century of City goals in the process."

Good job you were a Maths teacher, Colin!

As a maths teacher Colin will understand parentheses as introduced above.

Understood perfectly.

It is the next sentence that misleads

As a former teacher of English (to children aged 8 to 11!) I think it’s clear that the word ‘he’ in the second and third sentences above refers to Stearn’s mention in the first. I guess it’s slightly ambiguous but I would never have applied my red pen....

Colin Voutt wrote:

Backintheday wrote:Why hijack this post to criticise something on another site?

Sorry. Blame Yuffie!

Blame? Come on - the amount of work put in to maintaining this site, uploading photos (which takes hours) and other tasks that I’ve certainly missed means the word blame is so wide of the mark.

Have a venture around some other pathetic websites in our league where they seldom update player statistics or info. We are extremely fortunate. If a sentence wasn’t structured to your liking that’s unfortunate, but to make it the centrepiece of this thread is unnecessary.

comrade powell wrote:As a former teacher of English (to children aged 8 to 11!) I think it’s clear that the word ‘he’ in the second and third sentences above refers to Stearn’s mention in the first. I guess it’s slightly ambiguous but I would never have applied my red pen....

Now we know why there are so many illiterates.      

Where is the original text that Yuffers quoted

I agree with Colin that it is unequivocally ambiguous and the author ought to have used "Stearn" instead  of "he".  

Good that we have nothing else to discuss as all things football are going very well;  I hope, like Bob Chester often does on BCIR commentary, the highlighted comment isn't tempting fate?

More opportunities to use emoticons welcome...  

Errrm ...... wrenching the topic back to the actual match in question, it does seem that the tactic of using Ross Stearn as an impact sub is really paying off. According to the stats he has warmed the bench twice for every game started this season, which I think would have been an unacceptable situation for him a few years back. But we're now seeing a more mature guy who can see how his contribution best helps the team to be successful - good to see, and good that a long-serving player is still a key member of the squad.

Agreed. He is a game changer and we are so fortunate to be able to bring him on when sides are flagging. Poor Ross, though. He may be one of our senior players now, but he's like a terrier that wants to be taken out for a walk - full of pent up energy.