It’s been a while since this was updated, so quickly trying to recap. After losing so poorly to Dover, City continued to struggle in the league, losing 2-0 away at Chelmsford, before beating a painfully poor Bridgwater Town.
Bridgwater were appalling, and City didn’t need to get out of second
gear to beat them, but if you believe the Bridgwater players/fans they
deserved to win and we were the worst team they’d played all year.
The Romans battled to a 2-2 away draw at Whitehawk, which after giving them a two goal lead showed something of a fight back.
The FA Cup run was brought to an end though, with a home loss to Salisbury City,
an expected defeat but with positives in the performance of Dan Bowman,
this continued into the Tuesday night away at Farnborough where City
grabbed a stunning 4-2 win, leading the stripes entering the home game
with Havant and Waterlooville with some confidence.
Being my first game since Bridgwater away, I was chomping at the bit to get down to Twerton Park,
and given the time of the year it wasn’t bitingly cold as could be
expected. A painfully low crowd of 451 turned out though, although given
recent home performances I am not surprised either.
The
stripes lined up in the 5-3-2/3-5-2 formation that was used to great
affect at Farnborough, with Andy Watkins now fully fit and Ross Stearn in a floating role. The
game actually commenced 20 minutes later than the usual 3pm kick off,
this was due to Havant making a meal of the journey up from the South Coast and demanding an hour warm up time.
The
additional warm up time didn’t do H&W any good as the Romans
started brightly and Watkins had a good chance within the first 10
minutes, Ross Stearn then fired in a long range effort which the keeper Scott Bevan (ex Bristol Rovers I think) pushed away. However, Stearn was not to be denied and scored just after the quarter hour mark with a free kick that Bevan should have done much better with, the giant keeper being beaten at the post he was meant to be guarding.
The Hawks offered very little threat, and it was City that looked the more likely to score and increase their lead. Stearn had another chance off a Watkins cross, but the half finished 1-0.
Almost
immediately after the restart H&W scored with what was almost their
only chance of the game. A cross from the right being bundled home by Kabba.
While this was going on the linesman had managed to injure himself,
leading to one of those wonderful things at non league games, a call
over the tannoy for a qualified referee to step forward, City fan Michael Clayton was that man, and he did a sterling job.
The
delay in the game though, did add up and would lead to an eventual 17
minutes of injury time being played. Dan Bowman was flying forward from
his right wingback position, desperately trying to restore the
advantage, and his performance was widely praised, and rightly so, for a
young lad of 18 to come in and play so well.
City regained the lead they deserved on 71 minutes, Andy Watkins jinking past a couple of defenders before squaring to Stearn who hammered the ball into the roof of the net, giving Bevan no chance.
On 75 minutes, City completed the victory, Stearn
was felled inside the area, and the diminutive wingman picked himself
up to slot home the penalty and complete his hat trick, City scored
another through Pratt but it was (correctly) disallowed by stand in lino
Michael Clayton.
The Romans closed the game out, and it finally finished well past 5 o’clock, an most unusual time for the game to finish. City now have a Bath derby against Larkhall Athletic, before travelling away to Dorchester in the league next Saturday. If City play the way they have in the last two games, Ross Stearn
continues his great form and the burgeoning partnership between Watkins
and Pratt develops further, there is hope that City will rise away from
the relegation spots.
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