So after the Boxing Day farce of the late postponement due to a waterlogged pitch, Bath City and Newport County reacquainted themselves at Twerton Park, which despite a 24 hour deluge of biblical proportions was more than up to the task, unlike the crappy athletics ground that Newport call home.
Since Citys last game at Kettering (on the 18th December I remind you!) Sean Canham has again joined City on loan, this time for the rest of the season. He slotted in and replaced Jamie Cook (thank God I hear you sigh) but otherwise the team was unchanged.
The weather around Bath had been awful all day, but the rain eased off before the game leaving just the blustery wind. The stripes took the game by the scruff of the neck and attacked Newport at will, however, at the 10 minute mark a comment was made that City needed to score quickly otherwise they'd do their usual trick of conceeding against the run of play.
And then it happened Newport broke down their left flank, Andrew Hughes managed to get a cross in passed Simo and the cross floated over Matthews, hit the post and went in (or so it appeared from where I was, it is debateable as to whether the Newport forward got the last touch) Now I defended Matthews for the identical mistake against Mansfield but I'm thinking Garner needs to return as Matthews maybe the more vocal keeper but is nowhere near as good at actual goalkeeping, which is what I'd prefer my 'keeper to be good at!
City roused themselves again and continued attacking with verve, S.Canham hit the post from a Murray cross, before Adam Connolly won a tackle on the edge of the area, exchanged a neat one-two with Marley Watkins before hammering the ball in at the near post. 1-1 and City were on top.
The stripes were dominant at this point and after a flowing move which started in our half Hoggy picked up the ball wide on the right, after a step over to buy himself room he whipped over a cross that the Newport 'keeper misjudged allowing Sean Canham to tap in at the back post. Somehow, something that hasn't happened at Twerton this season occurred and the stripes went into the break in the lead! Happy days!
Then joy of joys two minutes after the restart Canham knocked it wide to Murray who hit a bobbly (rubbish if I'm honest!) shot which somehow crept into the bottom corner of the goal! 3-1! City are cruising and the legion was in good voice and we all relaxed to enjoy what looked like an enjoyable 43 minutes to come...however, we support the City (and that's the way we like it...) and we should have known it wasn't going to be that simple.
In the second half City were attacking the Bristol End and the fierce wind was blowing from the west meaning it became harder and harder for City to get out of their half. City were weathering the storm reasonably well, although Stonehouse and Burnell both don't look like defenders, but eventually County won a corner which was emphatically headed home. 3-2 with over thirty minutes left.
Somehow, despite many close calls and some scares City held on for win number 3 of the league season, would have hoped it was more by January, but starting 2012 with a win is a boon and will hopefully lead to a productive year.
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