Reaching breaking point?

After not updating the blog after the Tonbridge game, due to frustration at not getting the three points City deserved, this is now a update of the moment the wheels seem to have fallen off.

Against Tonbridge the stripes played some good football, attacked at will and generally did enough to win the game, Tonbridge had two shots all game, one in the first minute and one 89 minutes later, and they scored from both. So a draw was snatched from the jaws of victory, and the Romans had every right to feel hard done by. This was compounded on the Tuesday when another 89^th minute goal sunk City (there was also time for an unfairly disallowed goal that would have given City a deserved, or so I am told, draw) So after taking 1 from 6, that should have been 4 from 6, City welcomed stuttering Dover Athletic to Twerton Park.

Dover Athletic are perennial promotion challengers, but arrived at Twerton on the back of a four game losing streak, surely giving City the confidence to right the wrongs of the last week. Somehow though, you just knew it wasn’t going to happen and in conversations with other stripes there was a sense of foreboding about the game, with the prevailing feeling being “Dover are due, and we never seem to beat them” with that being the feeling, I genuinely considered not turning up, and I like the other City fans in the 551 crowd wish I didn’t.

City were clueless, completely and utterly devoid of ideas, invention, ability and even, more damningly desire. The few bright points were Jason Mellor, who manfully kept the score down (that you can lose 2-0 and the keeper still gets MOTM says a lot) Dave Pratt who bless him battles and fights despite being often the only man within 30 yards of the opposition goal, and Ross Stearn who again provided a few highlights with runs and a general narky demeanour which a la Hogg means he does get stuck in.

Other than that there is nothing I can say good about City’s performance, the whole ground was silent as time after time Dover sliced the stripes open, the game could have easily ended 5 or 6 nil to Dover, and City in the few moments they did touch the ball in the first half were utterly pathetic when coming to use it. I honestly cannot put into words how awful City played, while it is harsh to single out any one player, Ben Adelsbury continued his quest to not impress me, I don’t get what he offers that Keats doesn’t, and would rather have played Allen who would have tried to close the gaping chasm between the midfield and the attackers, with Allen offering a bit of subtlety and craft that Connolly, Keats and Adelsbury don’t.

Things did improve in the second half, but not really by anywhere near enough and it was a sweet relief when the referee did bring proceedings to a close. There was a smattering of boos, but mainly everyone drifted away feeling fed up and annoyed with how things went. With the FA Cup game next Saturday against Gosport Borough (potentially the least inspiring cup tie we could have got) now taking on massive importance, for financial and prestige reasons I have so little faith that we’ll be able to do anything that I am genuinely for the first time in years considering not going to a home game, we will see how the mood takes me, but I cannot face another 90 minutes of that dirge.

What a difference a week makes.

After the awfulness of the game against Gosport Borough, and the postponed game against Farnborough (who at the time of writing, have been readmitted to the league, sans their stupid Paddy Power inspired name changing stunt) City reconvened at Twerton Park to take on the second promoted team in a week Concord Rangers.

Concord Rangers are from the Essex, Canvey Island to be precise. I have to admit to being shocked that Canvey Island could support another reasonable sized non league team, given Canvey Island’s FA Cup exploits of a few years ago, and given the population of just under 40,000 I am still surprised by this fact. However, since Canvey Island FC resigned from the Conference in 2006 due to financial difficulties, Concord have become the pre-eminent team for the island.

Concord’s unusual name comes from the beach they used to train by when formed, and contributes to their “Beach Boys” nickname.

City restored Keats to the line up in place of Burnell, while Will Salmon, who has joined on a short term contract, started at full back. Salmon has an uncanny resemblance to Ben Adlesbury, and led to constantly having to explain to people who was actually on the ball.

The Beach Boys started strongly and almost scored within the opening moments when a curling shot was lashed from range which left the post shuddering, thankfully some good vibrations for City (sorry…)

Concord were dominating the early stages of the game, but City slowly started to get into the game, and scored a cracker on 15 minutes. City were awarded a free kick about 20 yards from goal, Ross Stearn lined up the free kick and hammered a dipping shot that crashed against the underside of the bar and bounced into the net before the keeper had even moved. An absolute stunner of a free kick, that Cristiano Ronaldo would have been happy to score.

After this City took firm control of the half, and in reality should have scored again. David Pratt, who was lively all afternoon, robbed the keeper and once he took control of it tried to chip it into the net, unfortunately the keeper back peddled quickly enough to manage to get a clawing hand to the ball, which dropped just wide.

The half time whistle blew with City in the ascendancy and looking good for their lead. So, rather typically after half time the tide turned a bit. Rangers were attacking with a bit more fluency, although their eventual goal had more than an element of farce about it.

Just before the hour, Collin’s collected the ball, and fired off a fairly tame shot that was straight at Jason Mellor, the big keeper went down to collect the ball, and in a scene reminiscent of Massimo Taibi and Matt Le Tissier, Mellor missed the ball completely and it rolled between his legs and into the net. The keeper looked crestfallen, but given his good form since wresting the number 1 shirt from Glyn Garner last year, he was due a cock up!

The stripes though, were not to be denied, and almost immediately regained their lead. Ross Stearn had switched flanks during an attack and found himself wide on the left, the winger moved towards the corner of the box where he received the ball, Stearn took the ball around a few defenders before firing in a shot from the edge of the area. The ball seemed to bounce, and I think the keeper may have got a hand to it but the ball ended up in the back of the net.

This goal seemed to lift the Romans, and City were then in complete control, the lead was increased on 69 minutes when they won a free kick in the corner. The ball was floated  across the box and Will Salmon headed the ball back across goal, Pratt was inches away from connecting and all thought the chance had gone, however, the ball rebounded off a player into the crowd in the six yard box and Mark Preece managed to get his foot up to the ball and put it into the goal. 3-1 and the game was won.

After the appalling performance in the last game, this was a welcome return to form for City, and left everyone leaving the ground with a much greater feeling than the week before. Bizarrely, an American online football show has decided to support Bath City for the season, so I’m sure there will be some cheers from them for the good win by the Romans.

A truly awful game

After the valiant, but ultimately unsuccessful game again Eastleigh on Tuesday, the stripes welcomed Gosport Borough to Twerton Park. Due to Farnborough’s continuing shithousery, the bank holiday Monday game was cancelled, so this match was to be City’s only encounter of the bank holiday period. The game also gave the Romans a chance to avenge being knocked out of the FA Cup by Gosport when they were a league below last season.

On arriving at the ground, we noticed the players were wearing white shorts and purple socks, and lo and behold, due to the continuing farce with our new home shirt, we were playing in this seasons purple away kit. The confusion continued with the home dugout now electing to sit in what is normally the away dugout, with rumours abounding that it was due to what was perceived to be influencing of the linesman by opposition teams.

Now, with the prematch intrigued etc., done lets get onto the game…what an appalling waste of a Saturday afternoon that turned into. Truly one of the most boring games of football I have watched. City resorted to pumping long balls forwards towards two forwards who are not the tallest, and completely bypassed the midfield, which had its own baffling selection with Burnell playing on the left of it.

Moments of note, Dan Ball caught a nasty kick to the face, which required him to go to the RUH with a suspected broken jaw, thankfully this wasn’t confirmed and it was just sever bruising. Nothing else happened until the 45 minute, for once City realised they were allowed to pass the ball, and Mark Preece (of all people) slid a wonderful, perfectly weighted pass which split the defence and David Pratt tucked the ball away. 1-0.

Less than a minute later Gosport equalised. Then in the second half, the same drudgery was served up. This was only enlivened right at the end, by a red card and a couple of chances.

So concluded an particularly poor day at the office for the men in black and white (or purple) hopefully this will not be a sign of things to come at home this year, as if it is crowds will dwindle rapidly. City host Concord Rangers on Saturday, and given they won 1-0 away at Dover it threatens to be a harder game than could be expected.

Eastleigh (HOME)

Following the encouraging win over Bishop’s Stortford, the first time in 7 years City had won on the opening day, the stripes were to play high spending Eastleigh at Twerton Park. In what must be one of the weirder days in the history of Bath City, the day started for the club with a call from emergency services at 1:30am as someone had set a car alight just in front of the turnstiles.

The burnt out car could have had serious repercussions if it had been parked closer to the main stand, or if the wind had been blowing in a different direction and we could have been looking at a lost main stand a la the Bristol City fans burning it down when Rovers ground shared with us.

The second thing that was unusual in the day was the new kit causing further controversy. I personally do not like the kit, for my tastes the stripes are too narrow, and the all plain black clearly would look to similar to the referee, as many of us pointed out on forums and general chit chats. Bishop’s Stortford’s management team definitely thought so, and so did the referee on Tuesday! Therefore, City took to the field in last years kits, looking resplendent in proper stripes, and we now wonder if we’ve got a one game wonder kit on our hands.

To the game, Eastleigh after losing in the play off semi last year, have continued to invest heavily in their playing squad, no one I know is quite sure where the money is coming from as Eastleigh aren’t well supported, and we haven’t heard of a Dale Vince type pumping money in.

Of their summer acquisitions’ Stuart Fleetwood is the biggest name, having played in the league and dropping down from Luton Town to join Eastleigh. The stripes lined up with the same starting eleven as away at Stortford.

The game started with City attacking the Bristol End, but were quickly on the back foot, when a long ball bypassed the City defence, falling to Fleetwood who saw his shot pushed round the post by Mellor (thankfully recovered from his knee injury on Saturday) City then had a shot via Adlesbury, but the game developed into a midfield stalemate with no real threats on goal from either side. The nearest the first half came to a goal was when Mellor seemed to completely misjudge a shot from distance that cannoned back off the post, the teams entered half time still with the score at 0-0.

The second half continued in the same vein, with Eastleigh having the best of the game, but not really creating too much. Danny Ball was booked when he chased a ball and slid into keeper Ross Flitney, much to the keepers credit he bounced to his feet and pushed away the rest of his animalistic colleagues’ who were gunning for Ball and haranguing the referee Flitney’s intervention probably saved Ball from a completely unnecessary sending off, and for that we were all impressed by the rare show of sportsmanship.

On 68 minutes, the deadlock was broken; a cross from the right was met by Strevens, his poorly hit shot, struck Sekani Simpson and bobbled over the line via the post. Howells reacted instantly by bringing on Ross Stearn for Noah Keats, and the substitution almost instantly reaped dividends when Stearn went past two, before crashing his shot against angle of post and bar with Flitney beaten.

Eastleigh could have scored more, but the final action of the game involved Jason Mellor making it halfway up for a corner that was taken quicker than he could arrive in the box, it was cleared to the left wing area, where the big keeper was back peddling, he pinged a delightful cross field pass that picked Stearn out perfectly, the winger drove in a low cross that Flitney spilled, but managed to gather before the onrushing Roman’s could get there.

The game finished, with City losing, but given that Eastleigh are favourites to go up, the stripes could take some optimism from the game, and if they play like the did (but perhaps add more attacking impetus) then we are in for a good season.

P.S. On a side note, the bank holiday Monday game against Farnborough has been cancelled due to the never ending list of issues that basket case of a club is suffering from, so sadly the bank holiday weekend is down to one game on the Saturday, against Gosport Borough who eliminated City from the FA Cup last season.

New season, new hopes

After the ins and outs of preseason (including the still disputed leaving of Charlie Griffin and the surprising release of Gethin Jones) a couple of friendlies, and for me at least a game spent watching Exeter vs QPR in the League Cup the proper stuff returned with City being sent to an away opening game for the 5^th year in succession.

The stripes were to play away at Bishop’s Stortford, reinstated to the Conference South, after a two year sojourn in the Conference North, making Stortford the happiest of anyone to see Barrow, Stockport County and Telford relegated from the Conference National last year, making their return to the south an inevitability. Given that they are only 30 minutes north of London it seems a fairly sensible league for them to play in.

Having used the opportunity of the first game to visit my London based mates, we departed from Putney (as has become the norm for me in South East games) to London Liverpool Street and onto Bishop’s Stortford, this is where the first pleasant surprise occurred, compared to the usual awful commuter towns/vast sprawling suburbs of London, this town is actually quite pleasant.

We strolled along a wide, tree lined road, flanked by giant (and presumably expensive) houses, before coming to a junction, opposite which stood the Nag’s Head. Again, imagine my shock when instead of finding the usual boring/ugly/generic pub (see Chelmsford/Welling/Tonbridge etc.) I saw a superb art deco style pub, from the sign to the flourishes in the brick work to the writing on the signs, McMullen’s brewery had perfectly continued the style that the original builders must have aimed for. Bravo.

Having sunk a swift pint, we walked to the ground. This is where the dread takes over for what will happen to City when we inevitably leave Twerton Park. The ground, like most new grounds it seems, is no where near the actual town. Having weaved our way through an industrial estate, past a Travis Perkins, and offices, all of which I clearly want before the football, we got to the ground. A chat to the man on the car park as he asked us the prices of beer in Bath (about the same as Bishop’s Stortford) and we were in the ground.

The ground is a standard enough, newish ground, neither offensive nor particularly impressive, although the chips I had before the game were very good. Bishop’s Stortford contained the expected array of pillocks in their squad, the whole back 5 having a collection of dubious hairstyles and tattoos that seem commonplace in the London based footballer.

The stripes were lining up with 3 debutants in Andy Watkins, David Pratt, Ben Adlesbury, and returning hero Andy Gallinagh. Gallinagh was handed the armband, and City lined up in a 4-4-2 with Aaron Brown occupying the left wing. Another point to be made, is that City were wearing their new kit, without getting too involved in the debate it is far from the nicest kits in recent history, with the stripes being relegated to one panel and the whole back being black prompting moaning from the Stortford management team.

The game began at a hectic pace, with Stortford having a chance within the first minute, that Jason Mellor could only watch sail past his post. While City were also creating some chances of their own. Stortford again had a chance which Mellor could only watch, while Gallinagh had to do some defensive work under his own cross bar to ensure parity.

Nevertheless, the Romans began to get a grip on the game, mainly due to two reasons, firstly the front two of Pratt and Watkins, harassed and harried the backline relentlessly and this forced the Stortford players into many mistakes as they were hurried along, secondly, Bishop’s Stortford seemed to have decided to try and become a shitter version of Barcelona. Time and time again, they passed it around the back, which a) invited Watkins and Pratt to chase, b) contributed to them taking bad touches/misplacing passes and c) was a waste of time, as 9 times out of 10, once the ball reached the midfield it was hammered forward.

The stripes were having multiple opportunities from set pieces, Aaron Brown took a free kick that was hit with power, but straight at the goalkeeper, while from a corner Ben Adlesbury was in acres of space and should have scored with a header. Brown also whipped in a cross that Pratt was millimetres away from connecting with.

Just before halftime though, City’s efforts were rewarded, Sekani Simpson received the ball on the right, before laying it off to Adam Connolly, the midfielder was tackled, but showed great tenacity by winning the ball back before looping the ball into the box, Andy Watkins took a touch to control the ball and give himself half a yard, before unleashing a howitzer which flashed past the keeper and went in off of the underside of the bar.

Soon after halftime City applied the finishing blow, Pratt was unnecessarily bundled over in the corner by the Stortford full back, from the resulting freekick Brown’s low, hard cross was met running away from goal by Pratt who guided his header into the opposite corner, it was a brilliant finish and both new frontmen had scored on debut.

City then dominated the next 20 minutes or so, and chances fell to Keats and Pratt, while a Dan Ball effort was cleared off of the line. Then as is so often the case, a couple of substitutions completely changed the game. The very impressive Watkins and Pratt were removed, with Ross Stearn and Josh Low replacing them. Stearn the winger from Weston-super-Mare, buzzed and hassled and had a few efforts, but Josh Low accomplished nothing.

This is not a criticism of Low, he is clearly not a centre forward, but his lack of contribution meant that suddenly the stripes were on the back foot, and the inevitable goal came from a corner with Kyle Assante’s shot crossing the line, despite the acrobatic efforts of Dan Ball to keep it out.

Then came 5 minutes of torture, as City’s previous composure and dominance melted away, and on a couple of occasions Stortford almost snatched the equaliser, the game finished with Mellor collecting the ball and getting hurt, the whistle blew and the big custodian crumpled to the ground.

All in all, it was a good opening day with for the men in black and white (predominately black, sadly) and the impressive performances by the new front two, with a promising cameo from Stearn gives hope for a good season, but with the visit of high spending Eastleigh on Tuesday night, this could all change quickly! Up the City.  

The Second Annual DUYC End of Season Awards...

Goal of the season
1) Not even a City player this one, but it was heads and shoulders above any goal I have seen this season, Salisbury's third goal in the away game the Conference South website tells me it was Ryan Brett, although I thought it was someone else. But the goal was a thing of beauty, combining Gazza's Euro '96 goal flick with an edge of the box volley, superb.
2) Charlie Griffin - Dorchester Town (A) Everyone loves a freekick, and Griffin's was out of the top drawer, a wonderful curling effort which clipped the post of the way in past the despairing dive of ex-stripe Jason Matthews.
3) Sekani Simpson - Welling United (H) A goal from Simmo is always rare, but this goal was brilliant. The ball being charged down from the keeper by Allen, the curved run from the marauding full back to stay onside, the delightful chipped pass from Joe Burnell, then the best first touch in non league all year by Simmo to round the keeper with ease before rolling the ball home. Amazing.

Pub of the season
1) The winner isn't even a pub! But hands down winner of this is the Ye Olde Cider Bar in Newton Abbot. Words cannot describe the wonderfulness of this cider house, but by God good times were had, and I assume good times are always had in there! What a place, if you haven't been go, just go.
2) The Harp, Chando's Place, London. One time winner of CAMRA pub of the year, and it is easy to see why. It's close proximity to Charing Cross station makes it the perfect stopping point when travelling into Kent and the ever changing array of brilliant ales makes it a firm favourite with every football fan, as the place is normally full of fans on their way to games.
3) The Wyndham Arms, Salisbury. We didn't even visit this on our away day to Salisbury, but instead this pub saved the aborted away game to H&W just before Christmas, everyone being on the first day of their Christmas break, and the wonderful Hop Back beers on tap made this a very enjoyable day out.

Player of the season
1) Noah Keats. The young midfield terrier added bite and enthusiasm to a midfield that had grown worryingly pedestrian in the last few years. Not one to shirk a challenge, the boy can play as well, and with him confirmed as a retained player he can hopefully become a City legend in years to come.
2) Danny Ball. The young defender grew in stature as the season progressed, including a stint covering the right back position when Simpson was injured. While not ignoring that fact, it was while playing at centre back that Ball excelled, not the biggest of centre halves he is strong in the tackle and reads the game well. I hope that we manage to retain his services, but I fear bigger clubs may come sniffing for a player who has masses of potential.
3) Charlie Griffin. The burly frontman possess technique which marks him out as a player who has played at a higher level, and with there is no one you would rather see with the ball at his feet when faced with a one on one situation...which makes it all the more bizarre to me that he has been released this week, not a decision I fully support.

Best Away Day
1) Dover - This wins by the narrowest of margins, but pips it due to the pure carnage in The Castle pub in Dover. An evening of entertainment which involved full band kits, copious amounts of booze, singing, debauchery and also led to us meeting a befriending two American travellers who then experienced their first non league games at Twerton Park when visiting Palmer in Bath.
2) Buckland Athletic - The cider bar, the lovely little ground, winning the 50/50, losing glasses, ridiculousness, cider, cider, cider, cider.
3) Salisbury City - Wasn't great that it was a Tuesday, but the game was entertaining, the atmosphere was good (we were commended for our singing by the PA operator no less) and all in all a decent little trip.

Best Atmosphere
1) Maidenhead United (away) - A sizeable contingent of stripes (e.g. about half the crowd) meant this was almost like a home game for City, a good collection of singers, in a ground with low roofs meant that the noise was amplified and given that it fell in the middle of our good run, and we won the noise levels were amplified.
2) Staines (home) - Quite simply, I wasn't there, but everyone has told me the "Pack the Park" initiative meant that the sound levels went up and it was the best atmosphere of the season.
3) Chelmsford City (home) - More specifically the second half as City searched for an equaliser, the torrential rain forced everyone under the Popular Side roof, there was a genuine roar as the stripes attacked and the celebration was raucous when the ball finally hit the net.

Favourite moment of the season
1) Josh Low's last minute equaliser at home to Chelmsford City. As mentioned above, the pressure and noise was building inside Twerton Park. We were looking dangerously like we were about to be relegated to the Southern League as we were in dire form, had a tricky set of fixtures coming up and seemingly couldn't collect a point. Then in the pouring rain with City piling forward, a final high cross, a ridiculous leap from Low and the ball just sneaks under the cross bar, I have been told my celebration was animated to say the least but what a moment.
2) Kurtis Guthrie's hattrick at home to Maidenhead. The season was fresh, the first home game after the horror show of last season and our new centre forward scores three incredibly well taken goals. It is performances like that, which give football fans belief and hope. Admittedly none of it turned out the way we dreamt it might after that, but for a brief shining moment everything looked rosy.
3) Jim Rollo's return. After being delivered the horrible news on New Years Eve, that Jim was to leave to join Chippenham, imagine the unexpected delight when he returned home to Twerton Park 3 months later! A mini revival that coincided with his return (although to be fair he didn't play!) just adds to the mans godlike aura...

End of the season battering

The final game of the season was a particularly weird day, but given the vast fluctuations in mood of

this season, perhaps it was a fitting end.

A group of City boys convened in The Old Crown, Twerton, for “The Bath City boys big bake off”…now let that sink in. This is a group of lads, all under the age of 30, who are meeting in a pub, before a football game to compare each others baking efforts! It is definitely out of the ordinary for my match day, and I assume most other peoples!

On arriving, I was expecting a myriad of horrific cakes, soggy uncooked middles through to blackened smoking squares where a cake may once have been. So, imagine my surprise when despite my misgivings I arrived to see tables laden with superb looking cakes of all sizes, there was Palmers white chocolate and orange cupcakes, Reedy’s lemon drizzle cake (complete with toasted almonds spelling out CITY), Beavin’s fudge brownies/cakes (honestly not sure what they were but they were lush!) and a host of other amazing creations (special mention for the sugar paper Bath City badges!) so after gorging myself on cakes, the beer wasn’t going down quite so easily!

The baked produce created by surprisingly skilled stripes!

After offering cakes to the pub, and packing away we headed for Twerton Park, which was bathed in glorious sunshine, but in fitting with what has been a foul season for weather it was still surprisingly cold.

The stripes were welcoming division form team Sutton United to TP, who were on an eight game winning streak. Despite that it was City who had the ball in the net first, when a crap clearance from the keeper was closed down by Allen, the ball rolled to Charlie Griffin who finished, but was flagged offside.

Both Sutton and City exchanged blows for the next part of the game, with City having two shots which went over, and being indebted to Mellor for a cracking save. It was to be in vain though, when on 33 minutes a close range effort was scrambled home, Mellor managed to get a hand to it, but it was not enough to stop the ball creeping over the line.

From a Josh Low ball, Griffin tucked the ball home well, but was erroneously flagged offside, the big forward then almost scored from a corner, but it was Sutton who finished the strongest coming close on numerous occasions.

The second half I am not going to discuss in much detail, but in short City were overwhelmed by Sutton. They scored on the 52^nd minute, then a Dan Ball back pass was underhit and Mellor rushing from his line dragged down the onrushing attacker, nailed on penalty and we assumed a straight red, Mellor was reprieved but the penalty was lashed home.

Another goal was scored by Sutton to make it 0-4, but in truth it barely mattered. The only other real thing of note was Chris Allen went down in some discomfort, but it has since come out that it was only a dead leg and not a more serious injury.

The fans continued to sing, and actually despite the loss it was an ok day. We clapped the players off at the end and got the obligatory sideways thumbs up (if that’s even possible!) from Jim Rollo.

Then the joy of non league strikes again, after the players had left we went on the pitch for a kick about with a ball “liberated” from Sutton United, an enjoyable time was spent frolicking on the Twerton Park pitch, before City fan (and head of stewards) Shane told us to “Piss off, as I want a beer but can’t leave till you do” so we left, and had our last look at Twerton Park for the 2012/13 season.

Messing around on the pitch after the game

The season has been very mixed, some amazing performances and results, and some awful games and a dangerous flirt with relegation, while the less said about performance in the cups the better. Nevertheless, there are some positives in the strength of some of the younger players performances and optimism, as always in football, that next year could be better. Up the City!

P.s. coming soon(ish, e.g. when I can be arsed to write it) the Second Annual DUYC Awards!