1st leg - the inquest

Unfortunate for Adie then, as he really didn't get an authentic look at their team (which may explain the odd tactics first half). I suppose you could say that they may have been aware of any scouting but, in all probability, they were just resting them for yesterday.

Still buzzing from what was an awesome game yesterday.

First half we were poor, second half (after about 10mins) we showed that we are the better footballing side by far.

For too much of the game we tried long kick outs and lumping the ball forward, against a team who are much taller and more physical than us. It was never going to work

Considering we were 2:0 down in the second half, I left the game annoyed that we hadn't beaten them. We have nothing to fear going up there, so long as we try to play football and don't play to their only advantage (physicality and height).

Great to see such a big crowd there yesterday as well - queuing up down the lane and along Twerton High Street at one point. Magical. I suspect that anyone who's been to a Bath City game for the last few years all came out together yesterday, and hopefully all went home entertained.

A great day al in all for the club. Let's finish the job next weekend.

Like most people I don't think there is anything to fear about North Ferriby, apart from their pure physicality. First half we froze. When we got at them in the second half they looked very ordinary and only the keeper saved from a defeat in the end.
I thought the pitich was the poorest I have seen it this season, the ball would not run and that did not help us - seemed to be like playing on treacle.
Also some of our big game players (Ball, Artus) were poor yesterday. Kington and Allen also looked weak. If we go into next Saturday positive and can get some of our better players up to their potential we can get through.

Agree totally with all of that, Steve. The management need to remember the type of football that has got us to the semis and trust in the players to reproduce it next Saturday. If we are not to succeed, we don't want to be returning thinking 'if only'.

I personally found the whole occasion really difficult to enjoy yesterday. I was just on edge throughout and, weirdly, only relaxed when we were 2-0 down, thinking "ah well, it's not meant to be". I thought first half we looked as nervous as I felt, last half hour we sort of thought "might as well go for it" and in the end we could have won the tie.

The main thing about yesterday was not to have an unmitigated disaster and head off to the second leg feeling flat and having little to play for. The tie is firmly in the balance - it's not like we have a poor away record and we've already shown at places like Bristol Rovers and Dover that we can perform wherever the venue. That said, we were underdogs for both, now there's nothing really in it and another tense 90 minutes await in six days time.

I wrote what it means to me to get through to the final but as a club it would be massive. If we do miss out I'll still be damn proud we got this far but would be incredibly deflated.

SteveS wrote:Like most people I don't think there is anything to fear about North Ferriby, apart from their pure physicality. First half we froze. When we got at them in the second half they looked very ordinary and only the keeper saved from a defeat in the end.
I thought the pitich was the poorest I have seen it this season, the ball would not run and that did not help us - seemed to be like playing on treacle.
Also some of our big game players (Ball, Artus) were poor yesterday. Kington and Allen also looked weak. If we go into next Saturday positive and can get some of our better players up to their potential we can get through.

Spot on, Steve. I agree that those four players - along with possibly Simmo - had disappointing games. However, given that we should have won the game it just shows that we are a better team than Ferriby. Of course, in a one-off game with the prize on offer that doesn't necessarily mean a lot, but I do feel a little bit more confident, if no less nervous, about next week.

The pitch did cut up a lot more than recently but it is interesting to read that their manager said that their surface is fantastic. If that is true it will certainly benefit us a lot more than them.

oh? a couple of their fans we spoke to said there pitch is smaller and in poor nick - and the pitch at  TP was like wembley to them!

I'd suggest we will go into the 2nd leg as underdogs, and that's to our advantage. If I was a Ferriby fan I'd be thinking 'we've done the difficult bit - those southern jessies will be turned over at our place!'

“Our ground is lot tighter and closer, the crowd are right on top of you. It will be a different atmosphere and the surface is fantastic."

This was what he claimed.

If the crowd are right on top of you there, it should help having 200ish Romans up there. As we know, away supporters create a heck of a lot of atmosphere compared to home supporters. A good surface will obviously help us as well.

From looking at images of their ground its on a par with Chippenham/Mangotsfield/Paulton but not as good.
Behind the goals appears to be no terracing without any roof. On one side its a long low roof with seating in the middle bit. On the other side there is a tiny shed behind the 'dug-outs'.
Without wishing to dictate to anybody but talking 'tactics', I would suggest the flags get put up behind a goal and we set up camp in one end of their 'popular side'. That way we have a roof to make some noise under and increase the decibel rating.
If they get even 1500 I think the chances of moving from one end to the other is going to be limited.

Here the opposition report - one or comment makes one wonder dide they watch the game:

Bath City 2 NFU 2 (FAT SF 1L)


FA Trophy sponsored by Carlsberg
Semi-final First leg

Bath City 2 North Ferriby United 2 Attendance: 1730

Ferriby will go into next week’s semi-final second leg as slight favourites following a tense
2-2 draw at Vanarama Conference South Bath City.

The Villagers will be somewhat disappointed with the result as they led 2-0 and were in control until a game-changing decision by the referee in the 61st minute. A shoulder charge by Mark Gray on Dave Pratt.

Bath had the better of the early exchanges but did not really present a threat despite their territorial advantage. Ferriby gradually came in to the game and were unfortunate when Russ Fry’s free-kick slid narrowly wide.

Goal attempts were at a premium and neither side seriously threatened, Consequently, it was a bit of a surprise when The Villagers took the lead after 25 minutes. Jason St Juste showed wonderful determination to win the ball on left and cut-in. His low cross was turned in by home defender Dan Ball.

Ferriby were playing the better football but did not force home keeper Jason Mellor into a save throughout the half.

Adam Nicklin also had a relatively quiet first-half with little to do than gather high crosses.

The second-half began pretty much like the first in a fairly low key fashion. Ferriby started well-enough with Tom Denton twice heading over from Russ Fry corners. Mellor did well to race out to take the ball off Danny Clarke’s toes.

A second goal was not long delayed. St Juste showed both awareness and determination to win the ball just outside the area and stride on to place th ball past Mellor.

Ferriby were in control at this point Bath didn’t really look like scoring until the penalty decision.

The goal boosted Bath and they pressured Ferriby for the final 30 minutes. Substitute Nick McCootie was a constant threat with his strength and pace. He placed a header to Nicklin and was instrumental in most of Bath’s attacks.

Ferriby were often forced to put all 11 men behind the ball and, consequently, found it hard to counter-attack.

Generally, The Villagers’ defensive play was good and Bath still found it hard to seriously threaten.

Ferriby looked to have weathered the storm as the game entered the final few minutes. Mellor did well to take the ball off St Juste’s toes and the keeper held a low cross with Tom Denton waiting to pounce.

The equaliser came after 85 minutes. McCootie latched on to a long ball and hammered an unstoppable shot in off the underside of the bar. Bath were now on a high and besieged Ferriby for the remainder of the game but determined defensive work kept them at bay.

“Ferriby manager Billy Heath commented, “It was a soft penalty award and it changed the whole tempo of the game. We were in control at that point and looking fairly comfortable. “

“The goal lifted Bath and they really came at us in the final 30 minutes. We let them push us back and the equaliser, for all it was a good finish, was a poor goal to concede.

All that said, If somebody had offered us a draw before the game we would probably have taken it. It’s certainly all to play for next week!”

Overall, this was a good performance from Ferriby and the draw was probably a fair result given Bath’s assault in the final 0 minutes. Hopes will be high of clinching a Wembley in next week’s second leg.

NFU: Adam Nicklin, Sam Topliss, Josh Wilde, Liam King, Mark Gray, Danny Hone, Danny Clarke, Russ Fry, Tom Denton, Adam Bolder (Jon D’Laryea 66), Jason St Juste. Subs not used: Matt Wilson, Tom Nicholson, Ryan Kendall, Nathan Peat

Bath City: Jason Mellor, Sekani Simpson, Andy Gallinagh, Phil Walsh, Dan Ball, Chas Hemmings, Andy Watkins (Ross Stearn 73), Chris Allen (Nick McCootie 45), Dave Pratt, Ashley Kingston (Ben Adelsbury 70), Frankie Artus. Subs not used: Dan Bowman, Pat Keary

Next Saturday’s second-leg kicks-off at 3pm. Gates will be open at 1pm. Ticket prices are £12 for adults, £6 for concessions and £3 for under16s.

Car parking will be available North Ferriby primary school at a cost of £2 with proceeds going to the school

Looks a fair summary to me.

Overall yes, but the detail!

I believe the report on the FA website is another embarrassment. Not on par with the Dover one (which I'm guessing was written by Stefan Payne or Chris Kinnear) but still sounds quite bitter. Really strange.

Surprise, surprise, no mention of no.9's horror tackle.

I am actually very confident going there. In learning lessons from sat I would drop Allen for Stearn, get McCootie in somehow, and would even consider Bowman instead of Sekani. Not only did Simmo struggle with the pace of their left-winger but found himself with room coming forward which I feel Danny would have been more effective with.

I agree, but I think only one of those 3 will happen!

Mellor
Bowman Ball Walsh Gallinagh
Stearn Artus Hemmings Watkins
Pratt McCootie

Wembley here we come!

I think he'll pay Addlesbury instead of Allen and stick with Simmo.....rest I'm with. can't see Stearn starting as they'll set up not to concede

play Addlesbury!

It struck me we attacked with pace very little on the right side. Maybe pushing them on that side would protect Simmo.
I think someone else wondered whether our management saw a weak defensive link on their left.

Regardless of what (if any) changes are made it is nice to have the squad where we have such a variety of options.

Whereas you wonder if North Ferriby do. They only made one substitution on Saturday when some of their players appeared to be dead on their feet, surprised they didn't freshen it up more. I guess they were desperate to just not lose rather than add a killer third.

Colin Voutt wrote:Here the opposition report - one or comment makes one wonder dide they watch the game:

Bath City 2 NFU 2 (FAT SF 1L)


FA Trophy sponsored by Carlsberg
Semi-final First leg

Bath City 2  North Ferriby United 2                                                 Attendance: 1730

Ferriby will go into next week’s semi-final second leg as slight favourites following a tense
2-2 draw at Vanarama Conference South Bath City.

The Villagers will be somewhat disappointed with the result as they led 2-0 and were in control until a game-changing decision by the referee in the 61st minute. A shoulder charge by Mark Gray on Dave Pratt.

Bath had the better of the early exchanges but did not really present a threat despite their territorial advantage. Ferriby gradually came in to the game and were unfortunate when Russ Fry’s free-kick slid narrowly wide.

Goal attempts were at a premium and neither side seriously threatened, Consequently, it was a bit of a surprise when The Villagers took the lead after 25 minutes. Jason St Juste showed wonderful determination to win the ball on left and cut-in. His low cross was turned in by home defender Dan Ball.

Ferriby were playing the better football but did not force home keeper Jason Mellor into a save throughout the half.

Adam Nicklin also had a relatively quiet first-half with little to do than gather high crosses.

The second-half began pretty much like the first in a fairly low key fashion. Ferriby started well-enough with Tom Denton twice heading over from Russ Fry corners. Mellor did well to race out to take the ball off Danny Clarke’s toes.

A second goal was not long delayed. St Juste showed both awareness and determination to win the ball just outside the area and stride on to place th ball past Mellor.

Ferriby were in control at this point Bath didn’t really look like scoring until the penalty decision.

The goal boosted Bath and they pressured Ferriby for the final 30 minutes. Substitute Nick McCootie was a constant threat with his strength and pace. He placed a header to Nicklin and was instrumental in most of Bath’s attacks.

Ferriby were often forced to put all 11 men behind the ball and, consequently, found it hard to counter-attack.

Generally, The Villagers’ defensive play was good and Bath still found it hard to seriously threaten.

Ferriby looked to have weathered the storm as the game entered the final few minutes. Mellor did well to take the ball off St Juste’s toes and the keeper held a low cross with Tom Denton waiting to pounce.

The equaliser came after 85 minutes. McCootie latched on to a long ball and hammered an unstoppable shot in off the underside of the bar. Bath were now on a high and besieged Ferriby for the remainder of the game but determined defensive work kept them at bay.

“Ferriby manager Billy Heath commented, “It was a soft penalty award and it changed the whole tempo of the game. We were in control at that point and looking fairly comfortable. “

“The goal lifted Bath and they really came at us in the final 30 minutes. We let them push us back and the equaliser, for all it was a good finish, was a poor goal to concede.

All that said, If somebody had offered us a draw before the game we would probably have taken it. It’s certainly all to play for next week!”

Overall, this was a good performance from Ferriby and the draw was probably a fair result given Bath’s assault in the final 0 minutes. Hopes will be high of clinching a Wembley in next week’s second leg.

NFU: Adam Nicklin, Sam Topliss, Josh Wilde, Liam King, Mark Gray, Danny Hone, Danny Clarke, Russ Fry, Tom Denton, Adam Bolder (Jon D’Laryea 66), Jason St Juste. Subs not used: Matt Wilson, Tom Nicholson, Ryan Kendall, Nathan Peat

Bath City: Jason Mellor, Sekani Simpson, Andy Gallinagh, Phil Walsh, Dan Ball, Chas Hemmings, Andy Watkins (Ross Stearn 73), Chris Allen (Nick McCootie 45), Dave Pratt, Ashley Kingston (Ben Adelsbury 70), Frankie Artus. Subs not used: Dan Bowman, Pat Keary

Next Saturday’s second-leg kicks-off at 3pm. Gates will be open at 1pm. Ticket prices are £12 for adults, £6 for concessions and £3 for under16s.

Car parking will be available North Ferriby primary school at a cost of £2 with proceeds going to the school

Really?
"St Juste showed both awareness and determination to win the ball just outside the area"
"McCootie was a constant threat with his strength and pace"
"Bath still found it hard to seriously threaten"
"hammered an unstoppable shot in off the underside of the bar"

Two nil and you (m)ucked it up etc.