Bath City (0)2 Welling United (0)1

Bath City returned to winning ways after a string of disappointing results by beating Welling United at Twerton Park in front of a crowd of 853. Two second half strikes proved sufficient to earn Jerry Gill’s men the three points despite the visitors scoring a late consolation goal.

City, playing towards the Bath End, began the match on the front foot and United under early pressure. A low 4th minute cross from Alex Fletcher caused panic in the away defence with the ball being blocked on the line before goalkeeper Jack Sims gratefully gathered.

The hosts spurned a great opportunity on 9 minutes when Callum Wood made good ground down the left before crossing to Omar Holness, who contrived to shoot wide of the near post from 10 yards out.

A well-timed defensive challenge then denied Cody Cooke a clear goalscoring chance three minutes later follow a cross from the left by Fletcher. The resulting corner resulted in a frantic goalmouth scramble before Fletcher’s header hit the crossbar and bounced away to safety.

Welling began to come more into the game without posing any threat up front, and it was City who continued to look the more likely to beak the deadlock. Joe Raynes’ shot in the 22nd minute was deflected into Fletcher’s path, who saw his follow up effort smothered by Sims low down at his near post.

The home side again came close on the half hour mark when Cooke produced a dangerous low cross from the right that just eluded Fletcher and flew across the face of the goalmouth. The remainder of the half was played largely in midfield areas with neither goalkeeper being brought into serious action.

The Romans emerged after the break looking to turn their overall superiority into goals and there was a scare in the Welling rearguard within three minutes of the restart. Elliott Frear swung a freekick into the box from the right which picked out the head of Wood, who somehow nodded wide of the far post. Alas, the offside flag had been raised and any embarrassment was duly avoided.

Welling had their first shot on target in the 50th minute from a freekick on the point of the City area but, despite an intricate and bizarre routine, the effort was straight at Ryan Clarke.

Bath continued to push forward and were finally rewarded on 64 minutes. A corner from the right fell to Frear on the far side of the box, and he drove a stinging shot into the far corner of the net giving Sims no chance.

Tom Smith replaced Tom Mehew after 70 minutes and began to cause problems down the inside right channel. However, Welling were now showing some forward intent and ‘claimed’ an equaliser six minutes later, but the eagle-eyed referee, Mr. Richie Watkins, spotted that Aaron Barnes had punched the ball into the net following a cross from the left. Barnes, who failed by some margin to display the same flair for concealed deceit as Diego Maradona, was consequently shown the yellow card.

With the visitors now committed to attack, Ryan Clarke was suddenly thrust into the spotlight. Firstly, on 82 minutes, he brilliantly tipped a powerful rising shot from Kristan Campbell over the bar, and from the following corner, he produced another tip over from a drive by the same player.

The two saves from Clarke proved crucial as City doubled their lead in the 85th minute. Smith crossed from the right and found Fletcher beyond the far post. The striker steadied himself before curling a delightful shot into the top corner of the net from 15 yards out.

The Kent side pressed forward in the final minutes and Wood was forced to clear the ball over his own crossbar after a cross into the danger area, and they finally found a consolation goal deep into five minutes of stoppage time. A free kick was floated into the City box and Artur Penney headed in at the far post. There was barely time for the game to restart before Mr. Watkins blew the final whistle, much to the relief of the home faithful.

There is no doubt the City deserved their victory, and they could well have been ‘out of sight’ by half time. Welling posed little goal threat until the closing stages, and the hosts always had more attacking intent and enjoyed the greater balance of possession overall. The most important factor was that City secured the three points which should provide them with greater confidence as they travel to Dulwich Hamlet next week in search of more points.

Bath City: Ryan Clarke, Joe Raynes, Jordan Dyer, Callum Wood, Zak Delaney, Josh Owers (Lloyd James 88), Omar Holness (Tom Richards 85), Tom Mehew (Tom Smith 70), Elliott Frear, Alex Fletcher, Cody Cooke. Subs not used: Jack Batten, Harley Wilkinson.

Welling United: Jack Sims, Aaron Barnes, Maxwell Statham, Bradley Pearce, Ademola Shokunbi, Olumide Durojaiye, Afolabi Akinyemi, Kristan Campbell, O’Shane Stewart, Arthur Penney, Che Krabbenendam. Subs: Chi Ezennolim, Kamon-Sherrell Assidjo, Bradley Stevenson, Daniel Carr, Cairo Richards.

Att. 853

Referee: Mr. Richie Watkins

Excellent as usual. There was quite a lot of damage done by the last home performance judging by yesterday's gate.

BenE wrote:Excellent as usual. There was quite a lot of damage done by the last home performance judging by yesterday's gate.

Form, weather and opposition play a part. 853 decent in context.

I doubt if many, if any, of the students present at the last game returned yesterday. Considering our recent form at home and the low turnout from Welling, I thought the attendance was excellent.

comrade powell wrote:I doubt if many, if any, of the students present at the last game returned yesterday. Considering our recent form at home and the low turnout from Welling, I thought the attendance was excellent.

There seemed to be less students in the bar for happy hour.

"Barnes, who failed by some margin to display the same flair for concealed deceit as Diego Maradona, was consequently shown the yellow card."

Thank you for this, KK.  Your reports and the turn of phrases you write in them are always something to both cherish and delight in!

Twerton Parker wrote:"Barnes, who failed by some margin to display the same flair for concealed deceit as Diego Maradona, was consequently shown the yellow card."

Thank you for this, KK.  Your reports and the turn of phrases you write in them are always something to both cherish and delight in!

Thanks TP. I do try!!

BenE wrote:Excellent as usual. There was quite a lot of damage done by the last home performance judging by yesterday's gate.

Not so long ago we would have been happy to get 600 in similar circumstances. If the 'hard core' is now around 800 that has to be good.

Impressive, especially when compared with our blue friends up the A4 who's attendances seem to be in long term decline.

I meant that we are unlikely to get any of those students back that swelled the last gate. I know we now have a good solid fanbase but an opportunity was wasted.

A lot of hard work goes into getting those students across the threshold in the first place. I'm not blaming anyone it was just bad timing.

I’ll have a look tomorrow but I remember us getting crowds in the 400s in the last 10 years or so during November. Saturday’s was excellent. If we get over 600 v Hampton we’ve done well, 5+ years ago that could have easily been 300s.

It has been a tremendous effort by many people to boost that.

Given the poor run of form I was amazed we got that many. Community day on 20/11 so should get back to 1000 plus

November home attendances all comps since relegation back to NLS (barring last season):

06/11/2021 Saturday League Welling United H W 2 1 853
30/11/2019 Saturday League Dartford H W 3 0 794
23/11/2019 Saturday FA Trophy 3Q Gosport Borough H D 0 0 528
09/11/2019 Saturday League Concord Rangers H W 3 1 820
17/11/2018 Saturday League Eastbourne Borough H W 1 0 783
03/11/2018 Saturday League Hemel Hempstead Town H L 0 1 916
28/11/2017 Tuesday FA Trophy 3Q Margate H D 0 0 341
11/11/2017 Saturday League East Thurrock United H W 4 0 907
26/11/2016 Saturday FA Trophy 3Q Basingstoke Town H W 2 0 366
19/11/2016 Saturday League Chelmsford City H D 2 2 540
05/11/2016 Saturday League Concord Rangers H D 2 2 479
14/11/2015 Saturday League Oxford City H L 1 3 616
10/11/2015 Tuesday Somerset Premier Cup 2 Street H L 1 3 122
25/11/2014 Tuesday League Hemel Hempstead Town H W 1 0 289
18/11/2014 Tuesday League Gosport Borough H L 1 3 403
15/11/2014 Saturday League Maidenhead United H W 4 0 539
11/11/2014 Tuesday Somerset Premier Cup 2 Shepton Mallet H W 2 1 128
01/11/2014 Saturday League St Albans City H W 2 0 499
23/11/2013 Saturday League Maidenhead United H W 1 0 501
12/11/2013 Tuesday League Sutton United H D 2 2 476
04/11/2013 Monday Somerset Premier Cup 2 Larkhall Athletic H W 2 1 233
02/11/2013 Saturday League Havant & Waterlooville H W 3 1 451
13/11/2012 Tuesday FA Trophy 3Qr Leatherhead H W 2 0 341
03/11/2012 Saturday League Farnborough H W 3 2 605