All hail breaks loose (awful pun I apologise!)

The first of what is meant to be 3 home games in 8 days (emphasis on meant to be, more on that later) was the visit of Chelmsford City to Twerton. Having not played at home in the league since the last gasp equaliser against Truro, it was nice to be back down Twerton, although a chat in the pub beforehand revealed that we have only won three (3) games at home since August, a depressing stat if ever there was one!

The game was to be notable for a few reasons, in Dover we had met some American girls, who were travelling Europe and had given them a memorable first night in England (look at the post below for photographic proof!) and they had decided to take Palmer up on his charitable offer of hospitality, and visited Bath, and were to experience their first “soccer” game at glorious old Twerton Park.

That was good news, but even better news, was the return of the messiah, the King’s return, the return of Jim Rollo! Yes, City’s stalwart of the previous decade, record appearance holder and all round good chap had returned to the stripes after 10 weeks at Chippenham.

The weather had taken it’s toll on the matches across the Conference South, and our pitch was also looking worse for wear, how they got the game on I do not know.

Chelmsford had lost to Hornchurch in the week, and we feared a reprisal and the Clarets swarmed over the stripes early on. Mellor had to be at his best to repel the early chances, and Chelmsford looked destined to score, so it was more than a bit of a surprise when City took the lead on 9 minutes.

Ryan Charles (recently signed, and on his 7000^th club) was fouled on the edge of the area, Aaron Brown whipped a cross in, there appeared to be multiple touches and flicks, until the ball fell at the feet of Gethin Jones, who bundled the ball home from close range. 1-0, and the goal seemed to spur City into action, with both Connolly and Griffin having chances.

Nevertheless, Chelmsford were still looking very dangerous, and their number 9 in particular had many opportunities. Noah Keats stung the keepers hands, and both Dan Ball and Ryan Charles followed up well.

Ball was having a commanding game at centre half, and he is one I fear we may lose to a bigger team come the summer, if only his more experienced colleagues could play at the level Ball does, then our defence would be water tight. Sadly, this was not to be the case, Burnell misplaced his pass to Justin Miller, and the midfield smashed his shot home from well outside the area, the finish was sublime and gave Mellor no chance, but Miller should never have received the ball in the first place.

City almost immediately regained the lead, when a cross and a scramble led to the ball dropping by Ryan Charles’ his shot however, rolled agonisingly wide of the post with the keeper rooted to the spot. Chelmsford then had a brilliant chance that Dan Ball somehow cleared off the line, the goal was due though, and due to Gethin Jones trying to execute a Cryuff turn and pass in the last moments of the half when he clearly should have just cleared the ball, a unbelievably scruffy goal was scored by Bakare. To add to the annoyance, the ball hit the post before trickling over the line. The half time whistle blew, and the Chelmsford fans celebrated like they had won the game.

Josh Low came on for the shockingly bad Burnell during the interval, and the tall wideman had a brilliant game, injecting some much needed pace and directness to the midfield. The Romans, attacked with purpose throughout the half, Griffin drove a shot narrowly wide, the same player couldn’t quite connect to a Ryan Charles cross deep to the back post, and Charles’ himself couldn’t convert with his head following a Low cross.

With City committing men to attack, there were inevitable gaps at the back, and if Bakare could finish Chelmsford could have been out of sight, as he had many presentable opportunities.

During the half, a hailstorm could be seen making it’s way over from Lansdown, with the hillside and eventually Weston disappearing behind the deluge, when it arrived at Twerton Park it was precipitation on a biblical weather, and the hail began to settle onto the pitch, slowly turning it white and driving the Bath Enders into the Popular Side, this though seemed to increase the atmosphere and a bellow and roar greeted every attack and every chance and it felt like something must happen.

Mellor thwarted a couple of attacks, and then the young keeper was sent up for a corner, joy of joys, one of those rarely seen sights at a game, but always enjoyed. The ball went no where near Mellor and was cleared to Bakare with Mellor deep in the Chelmsford half, Bakare fired the ball towards the unguarded net, but thankfully his aim was array and it drifted harmlessly to the left of the goal.

A Brown drive led to a corner, where Ball connected with a header which was cleared off of the line, I thought Charles’ was pulled down in the ensuing scramble but nothing was given. The stripes would not be denied though and in the 93^rd minute, Josh Low received the ball on the wing, we screamed at him to cross, but Low thought better and cut inside the full back before picking out his cross. A delicate chipped ball alluded the keeper and the defence to be met by Noah Keats at the back post, his header found the net and Twerton Park erupted! For the second home game in succession City had snatched a late, late equaliser. They almost took all three points, when a long throw in the last seconds was cleared away by desperate Chelmsford defenders.

A cracking game, played in bizarre conditions, that proved if the stripes can play and battle like the did in the second half, then talk of relegation will prove to be premature. The weather though has potentially killed off any hopes of the Welling United game on Tuesday being played, as the pitch was ruined which is shown by the picture below. 

If they make this pitch playable I'll be impressed!