Bath City (2)2 Chippenham Town (0)0

Bath City completed an ‘A4 Derby’ double over close neighbours Chippenham Town by virtue of two goals in first half stoppage time.  A bumper Twerton Park crowd of 2,261 witnessed an assured performance by the Somerset side, who were wearing their ‘away’ strip of dark blue and red stripes in support of Shelter’s #NOHomeKit campaign.

The hosts playing towards the Bristol End commenced brightly, but it was Chippenham who created the first effort at goal when Harry Parsons’ 4th minute shot from 20 yards was helped round the post by City keeper Ryan Clarke.  The resulting corner was punched over the bar by Will Richards, who remarkably escaped any sanction from the referee, Mr. Marc Whaley.

Bath were gaining the upper hand in midfield and were soon exerting pressure on the Town rearguard.  Mo Touray crossed from the left in the 7th minute and picked out Alex Fletcher who could only direct his shot well wide, being under challenge from a defender.  Two minutes later another cross was scambled out to Tom Smith but the midfielder was unable to make good contact with his shot, allowing visiting custodian Will Henry to save comfortably.

Eddy Jones battled for possession of the ball down the right flank on 15 minutes and delivered an inviting cross to which nobody was able to make a telling touch.  At the other end, Callum Gunner’s angled drive forced Clarke to push the ball out into a dangerous area, but the lurking Parsons was flagged offside by the referee’s assistant.  Kieran Parselle then headed wide of Clarke’s far post following a freekick into the home box, and Ricky Aguiar’s shot from distance flew straight into the City keeper’s arms.

Touray went down inside the Chippenham area on 37 minutes but Mr. Whalley waved away earnest penalty appeals.  Four minutes later, Callum Wood headed over Henry’s crossbar from a corner that had been awarded after a short period of frantic and desperate defending inside the box, during which another home penalty appeal was rebuffed by the man-in-black.

Town were awarded a freekick in a dangerous area just outside City’s box in the 43rd minute, but Ricky Aguiar’s effort crashed into the defensive wall.  A high ball was then only punched partially clear by Clarke and Aguiar’s follow up shot was deflected over the crossbar.

The game entered a period of mayhem and high drama as first half stoppage time began.  Fletcher’s low cross from the left was parried on to the unfortunate Will Richards by Henry, and the ball bounced into the unguarded net to give City a deserved lead.  

Shortly afterwards Alefe D’Abadia clattered into the back of Jones and, in the process, sparked an unseemly fracas on the halfway line.  When order was eventually restored Mr. Whalley administered two yellow cards for each side although, somewhat astonishingly, the original perpetrator remained completely unpunished.  When play resumed Fletcher raced down the right, cut inside down the byline, before easing the ball past Henry from the acutest of angles and into the far corner of the net.

City emerged after the break looking to drive home their advantage, but Touray’s 47th minute effort from distance was high and wide of the target.  Zak Delaney delivered a 53rd minute cross from the left that was deflected narrowly wide of his own far post by Spencer Hamilton and, a minute later, Jack Batten nodded just wide from a Smith cross.

Dylan Kadji replaced Joe Raynes in the 56th minute, following which Will Richards headed wide of Clarke’s goal from a right-wing free kick.

The Romans came close to increasing their lead on 58 minutes when Cody Cooke’s cross was flicked goalwards by Fletcher, but Henry tipped the ball over the bar at the expense of a corner.  Cooke then flicked a low cross towards goal, only for Henry to fortuitously trap the ball between his legs on the goal line.

Thereafter, Bath became increasingly content to sit on their lead and, consequently, Chippenham gained a greater share of possession.  However, they were finding it difficult to trouble the home defensive line and had only Oluwasegon Lawal’s long range shot to show for their endeavours, and this was deflected well wide of the target.

Elliott Frear came on for Touray in the 82nd minute before Fletcher cut menacingly inside from the right, but sliced his shot high and wide.

The only moment of concern in the City defence was on 86 minutes when Clarke was unable to take a cross cleanly, heralding a lengthy scramble inside the box before the ball was eventually hacked to safety. Chippenham’s final effort came from a freekick which was directed straight at the City stopper.

Jerry Gill made his final substitution when he sent on Tom Richards for Fletcher, and his side saw out the five minutes of stoppage time without further alarm.

The final whistle was met with a rousing ovation by the home faithful, acknowledging a fully deserved victory for their team.  Chippenham certainly played their full part in a competitive encounter, but City showed the greater incision going forward and never truly looked likely to relinquish their two-goal half time advantage.  The team will now travel to Chelmsford next weekend looking to continue their winning ways, and all those behind the scenes will take great heart and encouragement from another impressive attendance at Twerton Park.

Bath City:  Ryan Clarke, Eddie Jones, Jack Batten, Callum Wood, Zak Delaney, Joe Raynes (Dylan Kadji 56), Omar Holness, Tom Smith, Mo Touray (Elliott Frear 82), Alex Fletcher (Tom Richards 88), Cody Cooke.  Subs not used: Will Fuller, Dan Ball.

Chippenham Town:  Will Henry, Spencer Hamilton, Kieran Parselle, Will Richards, Alefe D’Abadia, Callum Gunner, Harry Parsons, Joe Hanks, Ricky Aguiar, Ethan Hill, Luke Russe.  Subs: Will King, Abdulrasaq Tajudeen, Harrison Lea, Oluwasegon Lawal, Kyle Cooke.

Referee:  Mr. Marc Whalley

Attendance;  2,261

Fantastic attendance

It looked more like 2500 to me.

Don't think Chippenham brought that many this time. If they had brought previous numbers sure gate would have been 2500.

Yes a great attendance and it would have been more if we didn't have Covid circulating and it was played on Saturday (more public transport running).

Attendances have been the consistent positive in the 1st half of the season. From the 10 home league games, 8 have been over 1000 of which 7 over 1100 culminating in the brilliant 2261 yesterday, meaning the average at half way is 1210. Magnificent effort by all those working to make that happen.

daven wrote:Yes a great attendance and it would have been more if we didn't have Covid circulating and it was played on Saturday (more public transport running).

Fear of covid is keeping me away in that the high attendances have increased the risk factor.