Bromley (0)1 Bath City (0)0

Bath City’ recent unbeaten run came to a halt at Bromley’s Fortress Stadium in a game that was decided by the differing outcomes of two penalty kicks. Neither side was able to produce any sustained good quality football on a lush pitch, the top of which began to break up in places as the game wore on. However, the greatest talking points revolved around some particularly controversial decisions made by the referee, Mr L. Wood, and his assistants.

City made three changes to Tuesday’s successful FA Cup winning side at Shortwood by including debutant Pierce Mitchell, Ross Stearn and Kyle Patten in place of Sekani Simpson, Andy Watkins and Ben Adelsbury.

Bromley started the brighter of the sides and applied the early pressure. In the 4th minute, skipper Ali Fusini headed over the bar following a cross from the left and, nine minutes later, City keeper Jason Mellor did well to hold a firm low shot from Moses Ademola.

The visitors gradually came more into the game and, on 19 minutes, Dan Ball stabbed a shot wide of the far post after Bromley had failed to clear an Ashley Kington corner.

The hosts continued to look dangerous on the break and Pierre Joseph-Dubois was narrowly wide of the near post after being the first to a corner from the right. A fizzing effort from 25 yards by Louis Dennis flew straight at Mellor, who held on well.

Bath thought they had taken the lead after 28 minutes when Dave Pratt raced into the box to meet Kington’s long free kick. The forward glanced his header into the net beyond Seb Brown, only to be denied by a linesman’s flag that had been raised for the tightest of offside decisions.

City’s sense of injustice was compounded on 38 minutes when Nick McCootie latched on to a poor home back pass. The forward raced into the box unchallenged, only to be cynically brought down by Brown as the ball was pushed past him. The referee rightly pointed to the spot, but to the complete amazement and incredulity of the visitors, only showed a yellow card to the keeper. It can only be assumed that the official deemed McCootie to be going wide of goal and not in a certain goalscoring position, which was debatable in the extreme and, in truth, a massive error of judgment.

Pratt eventually stepped forward and, whilst his spot-kick beat the reprieved custodian, it found the face of the post and rebounded to safety.

Kington’s free kick into the box found Pratt’s head, but the striker could not direct his effort on target, but Bromley should have taken full advantage of their good fortune three minutes before the break. A cross into City penalty box picked out the unmarked Ademola, but the forward nodded wide of the near post when he really should have scored.

At the other end, Ball delivered a hanging cross which the stretching Brown did extremely well to hook away from under his crossbar with Ross Stearn waiting to pounce. The final action of the half saw Pratt benefit from another Bromley defensive mistake, but he scuffed his shot wide of the post from a good position.

The second half began with The Ravens in the ascendancy, no doubt buoyed by the events before the interval, but they failed to create any clear-cut chances until the 57th minute. Dennis’ curling free kick from 25 yards was well saved by Mellor and, a minute later, Reece Prestedge’s shot was narrowly wide of the post following a neat passing movement.

The decisive moment arrived on 61 minutes, and was again steeped in controversy. A long hopeful ball into the City area appeared to drifting to safety, when Mitchell tumbled over and two Bromley players fell to the ground in the ensuing tangle. Mr. Wood deemed this to be an infringement and immediately awarded a penalty. Jordan Roberson made no mistake by sending Mellor the wrong way with his spot-kick.

Mellor was called upon to make an outstanding save in the 63rd minute to keep out Dennis’ cross shot, and the hosts were now well on top. The City stopper did well to partially block Ademola’s shot after the striker had broken clear, and Andy Gallinagh raced back to brilliantly clear the loose ball off the line as it rolled goalwards.

Lee Howells attempted to turn the tide as Andy Watkins replaced Kyle Patten on 69 minutes, and City came close to finding an equaliser three minutes later. McCootie won a free kick on the point of the box, but Stearn’s angled drive was just wide of Brown’s far post.

Bromley had a headed goal disallowed for offside after 73 minutes and it was the home team who remained the more likely to add to the scoreline. Substitute Mitchell Pinnock forced Mellor into a fine diving save to repel his rasping low drive, and Adam Bailey-Dennis’ header was narrowly wide of the far post following a corner.

As the final whistle approached, Watkins cut into the home box and was pulled back by Ugo Odoji, but the referee turned away strong penalty appeals from the visitors and this proved to be the final meaningful action of the match.

This was a fairly even contest and defeat was harsh on the Somerset side, who had the better of the first half and should have been in front at the interval. However, they failed to press home their advantage and Bromley were dominant after the break. City will doubtlessly feel aggrieved at some of the decisions that went against them and, in particular, Mr. Wood’s failure to dismiss the home goalkeeper, which would have forced Bromley to play the final hour with 10 men with an outfield player between the sticks. Despite this, the bottom line, quite simply put, is that you cannot afford to miss penalties at any level.


Bromley: Sam Brown, Ugo Udoji, Joe Anderson, Ali Fuseini, Jack Holland, Adam Bailey-Dennis, Pierre Joseph-Dubois, Reece Prestedge, Jordan Robertson (Duncan Culley 69), Moses Ademola (Adam Birchall 69), Louis Dennis (Mitchell Pinnock 75). Subs not used: Rob Swaine, Harry Grant.
Bath City: Jason Mellor, Pierce Mitchell, Dan Ball, Andy Gallinagh, Pat Keary, Ashley Kington (Andy Watkins 69), Ross Stearn (Louis Perry 83), Kyle Patten, Dave Pratt, Nick McCootie, Chas Hemmings. Subs not used: Ben Adelsbury, Chris Allen, Sekani Simpson.
Referee: Mr L Wood.
Attendance: 693.

great report as usual

Very accurate and fair. Let's hope Dave Pratt doesn't have too many off days like that this year.