Gloucester City (0)0 Bath City (0)0

Both Bath City and Gloucester City produced uninspiring performances in this afternoon’s FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round encounter at Whadden Road, Cheltenham.  The final goalless scoreline was a faithful reflection of the match, as neither side proved able to build any real momentum or carve out serious opportunities to break the deadlock.  

Bath started the brighter, but were unable to trouble Jasbir Singh in the home goal.  Ben Adelsbury tried his luck from outside the box in the 6th minute, but skewed his shot wide of the target.  

The home team were finding it difficult to put together any passing movement but, on 13 minutes, Harry White’s cross shot from 18 yards was narrowly wide of Jason Mellor’s far post.  Marc Richards then headed well over the Bath crossbar following a corner kick that had been swung in from the right.
George Miller’s shot from a tight angle after 22 minutes flashed across the face of Mellor’s goalmouth but, despite these efforts, The Romans were still showing the greater composure on the ball.

Chris Allen created space for himself 20 yards from goal, but his shot was comfortably collected by Singh.  Dan Bowman was also making a nuisance of himself down the right flank, and his searching cross on the half hour mark just eluded the onrushing Nick McCootie and Dave Pratt.

The remainder of the half passed without incident with the majority of play being engulfed in midfield stalemate.

The interval passed with both sets of supporters hoping for an improvement in terms of entertainment, and the second half proved slightly better with the teams showing more urgency.  Indeed, it was the visitors who enjoyed the upper hand for the opening ten minutes but, again, they were unable to convert this into clear openings.

Ross Stearn replaced the tiring McCootie on 55 minutes, but The Tigers were then to enjoy their best spell of the game as they camped in the Bath half of the pitch.  Their best chance arrived in the 63rd minute when White rose highest to meet a right wing cross, but Mellor did well to save his header low down.

The visitors forced three corners in quick succession, the final one of which was headed over the home crossbar by Phil Walsh.  Stearn then went on a mazy run across the edge of the Gloucester 18 yard box, but his eventual shot was straight at Singh.

Stearn had another shot from distance deflected wide of the post, and Walsh nodded well over the bar from the resulting corner, the centre half then being replaced by Dan Ball.

Former Bath striker, Charlie Griffin, came on for the final 17 minutes and, whilst he had a shot deflected for a corner with 6 minutes left on the clock, it was the away side that finished the stronger.  Stearn’s precise through ball gave Pratt a clear run at goal, but the forward fired over the crossbar as Singh raced quickly off his line.

The final action saw Chas Hemmings head over the target after meeting Stearn’s long free kick into the danger area.

It has to be said that a draw was the right outcome from a match that rarely rose beyond the mediocre.  Play was generally scrappy throughout, but matters were compounded by a plethora of truly baffling decisions from the team of officials, led by the referee Mr. Ian Rathbone of Northamptonshire.  The only consolation for those present is that, surely, the relay on Tuesday evening can only make more compelling viewing.


Gloucester City: Jasbir Singh, Mike Green, Lewis Hall, Jack Harris, Matt Williams, Adam Connolly, Marc Richards (Nathan Modeste 61), Tom Webb, Harry White (Charlie Griffin 73), Jamie Lucas (Chris Jones 61), George Miller. Subs not used: Chris Knowles, Sam Avery.
Bath City: Jason Mellor, Dan Bowman, Sekani Simpson, Pat Keary, Phil Walsh (Dan Ball 80), Ben Adelsbury, Andy Watkins (Ashley Kington 90+1), Chris Allen, Dave Pratt, Nick McCootie (Ross Stearn 55), Chas Hemmings. Subs not used: Andy Gallinagh, Louis Perry

Referee: Ian Rathbone (Northants).
Attendance: 425.

Well done, KK, for managing to find so many words to describe that dirge!

No mention of Phil Walsh's dreadful foul on Adam Connolly though?

clumsy, worth a booking, nothing more

tigerroar wrote:No mention of Phil Walsh's dreadful foul on Adam Connolly though?

Sorry Neil. Can only report what I see, and I was at the back of the stand behind the goal in the first half i.e. a long way away (I presume that the incident was in the first half. If not, I was still too far away in the main stand!). Must admit that the video evidence doesn't look too good though.

And also impossible to see from behind the goal in the first half.

It looked bad and I thought it would be a red card. He's not that sort of player usually.

With the performance of the officials today anything could have happened

comrade powell wrote:It looked bad and I thought it would be a red card. He's not that sort of player usually.

We've had one penalty and one red card against us this year. And that card was very late at North Ferriby after they'd been given a goal even though the ball was a foot over the goalline when it had been crossed in.

We don't get decisions.

You'll be delighted to hear we've had four (I think) penalties this season and eight red cards against us.

It's going to be one of those 'Welcome to hell' nights tomorrow, Neil!

comrade powell wrote:It looked bad and I thought it would be a red card. He's not that sort of player usually.

he normally does it with his elbows