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

Bath City progressed into the 4th Qualifying Round of the Emirates FA Cup by seeing off the challenge of close neighbours Frome Town, who play in the Southern League South Division.  A rain lashed Twerton Park witnessed City produce a five-star performance that fully exposed the two division gulf between the sides, and the final winning margin could well have been greater.

The hosts began the game playing towards the Bath End and immediately pushed forward putting the away side under pressure.  Indeed, City should have taken the lead after only 5 minutes when Tom Smith burst through on goal but slid his shot wide with only keeper James Carey to beat.

Frome responded with a chance of their own on 9 minutes when a free kick was pumped into the home area, but Marcus Mapstone headed wide. It was Bath, however, who continued to look the more threatening and Alex Fletcher almost benefitted from a 10th minute error in the Town defence, only to drag his shot wide of the far post.  The hosts made their superiority pay in the 14th minute, when Elliott Frear’s inviting cross from the left was headed firmly beyond Carey by the lurking Fletcher.

The Romans continued to press forward and could have increased their advantage within a minute as Smith found Fletcher with a through ball, but the latter was foiled by an excellent defensive block.  Carey then made an awkward diving save following Cody Cooke’s low effort from 18 yards, and the keeper gratefully gathered the spinning ball at the second attempt.

Frome were now under almost constant pressure and Smith’s 20th minute diagonal ball into the box was met at full stretch by Eddie Jones, but he was unable to direct his shot wide of Carey.  The Robins broke away two minutes later and had a presentable chance to restore parity.  Former Cityman Jon Davies raced through on goal, but home custodian, Murphy Mahoney, did well to smother the eventual effort low down.

Callum Wood saw his shot from distance sail over Casey’s crossbar but, just after the half hour mark, Town should have been level.  Another former City player, George Rigg, found himself unmarked in front of goal but somehow contrived to strike the post with his shot and then hoist the rebound high over the target, succeeding only in finding the upper reaches of the Bristol End terracing.

This turn of events stung City back into action with Smith seeing his 25 yard free kick being tipped over the bar by Carey, and the lead was increased on 38 minutes from the resulting corner taken by Frear.  The perfectly flighted ball was met by Jack Batten, whose glancing header found the far corner of the net.

The final effort of the half was provided by Frome, but Rigg’s shot from outside the box was well over Mahoney’s crossbar.

Bath began the second period strongly and they were rewarded with a third goal after 47 minutes.  The ball fell to Frear on the edge of the area, and his firmly struck drive nestled in the far bottom corner of the net giving Carey no chance.

Frear was causing a plethora of problems for the Frome defence, particularly down the left flank, and his cross from the byline on 53 minutes found Cooke, only for the striker to nod wide of the near post.

The visitors came more into the game for a period and strong appeals for a penalty were waved away by the referee, Mr. Jonathan Maskrey, when Davies went down on the edge of the City box.  Despite their endeavour, Frome found themselves further behind following the substitution of Joe Raynes by Omar Holness. Jones made good ground down the right in the 64th minute, and his pinpoint cross was neatly tucked into the net by Cooke for his team’s fourth goal.

Mo Touray replaced Ben Gerring on 68 minutes and Lloyd James came on for Josh Owers three minutes later and, sandwiched between, Frear’s firm shot struck the post with Carey beaten.

Touray cut inside from the left in the 74th minute and his curling shot again clattered against the foot of the far post, and then James fired well over the top from 20 yards out.  At the other end, ex-Roman James Ollis drove an effort narrowly wide of Mahoney’s post from distance.

The scoring was completed seven minutes from time again courtesy of an accurate cross from Freer which found Cooke at the far post, who headed back across Carey and into the corner of the sack.  There was still time for Touray to miss a gilt edged chance when Carey could only punch out a Smith cross.  The loose ball fell to the substitute but, with the goal at his mercy, he lifted his shot over the bar.

This was a commanding performance by the home team in front of another sizeable crowd of 1,421, and they were certainly not flattered by the final scoreline. Frome worked extremely hard throughout and the outcome could possibly have been different had they taken one of their chances before the break. However, in truth, they were outclassed in all departments by their National League South opponents, whose thoughts will now turn to the draw for the next round.

Bath City:  Murphy Mahoney, Jack Batten, Ben Gerring (Mo Touray 68), Callum Wood, Eddie Jones, Joe Raynes (Omar Holness 59), Josh Owers (Lloyd James 71), Tom Smith, Elliott Frear, Alex Fletcher, Cody Cooke.  Subs not used:  Will Fuller, Tom Richards.

Frome Town:  James Carey, Jack Witcombe, Joseph O’Loughlin, Samuel Teale, Marcus Mapstone, Rex Mannings, Jonathan Davies, George Rigg, James Ollis, Alex Hallett, Matthew Smith.  Subs: Christopher Peck, Kane Simpson, Kyle Phillips, Alex Monks, Martin Lenihan.

Referee:  Mr. Jonathan Maskrey.

Att:  1,421

Couldn’t get there today - fuel a problem courtesy HM Gov - so great to read this. What a performance, result and crowd.

Will try and make the next round whatever crisis Britain throws at me!

Hope you can make the next round, Pete. You would have been pleased with today’s performance.

Well done to Frome for contributing fully to a very entertaining match. No doubt their fans would have preferred a more cautious approach which might have made them more difficult to break down but if our attitude had not been spot on there could have been an upset.

I've just read the following about Monday's draw...

the draw for the Fourth Round Qualifying of the competition’s 150th anniversary season will be made live on talkSPORT2’s The Social programme at 3:15pm on Monday 4 October.

I’ll catch it online later. Not spending another afternoon listening to them pronounce teams incorrectly and show fake enthusiasm about teams so low down the pyramid. By the time they get to our section after relentless waffle it’ll be time for my daily dose of Tipping Point.

Excellent performance and could have been more if we were playing against ten men second half. Teale’s challenge on Smith was appalling and he was extremely fortunate to stay on. Could have been a different game had Rigg’s effort somehow not clipped in off the post but felt like we were always going to create chances. Ironically I expect people thought we would win as comfortably at Shaftesbury and this would be a narrower scoreline. We’ve won our last seven against lower league sides in the FA Cup and some of them very handsomely. I still expect Frome to do well this term.

comrade powell wrote:I've just read the following about Monday's draw...

the draw for the Fourth Round Qualifying of the competition’s 150th anniversary season will be made live on talkSPORT2’s The Social programme at 3:15pm on Monday 4 October.

On the evidence of previous draws on talkSPORT that will be about 3.45 then!

Which will give people time to register!