In the bleak midwinter.

Due to the ridiculous number of postponements we seem to have received it is looking more and more likely that we will be playing many Tuesday night games. So it was that on 15th January, on a bitterly cold night we welcomed Bromley to Twerton Park.

You have to love Tuesday night games, suddenly the working week is split by a few beers and some entertaining football (that is the theory anyway!) So after a few at The Whitehorse, we wandered down the hill to the ground. It was properly cold, and definitely a day for scarves and gloves.

The pitch looked interesting, and potentially frozen, so it was a wonder that the game was played. There was a paltry looking crowd, and near the end of the game it was confirmed that only 386 people had bothered to turn up to watch the boys in black and white, this is pathetic for a city of 80,000+ people. The poor crowd added to a miserable night, and generally added an air of depression to the proceedings, barely a peep was made as the crowd watched what was a shocking performance by City.

After the good 4-1 win away at WsM it would have been thought that City would have been full of confidence. However, this was clearly not the case. The opening of the game saw Nichols set up Noah Keats, but the youngster scuffed his shot at the keeper, and that was basically the end of City's attacking intent until the last quarter of an hour of the game.

Bromley were having having the better of the game, and on 38 minutes Theophanous latched onto a pass and stroked the ball under Jason Mellor. The game drifted to half time, and City emerged to a pitch that was definitely starting to freeze. They had upped the tempo a bit, but Bromley then extended their lead. Theophanous crossed a simple ball into the box, where the brilliantly named Pierre Joseph-Dubois chested the ball down and knocked it goalwards. Jason Mellor was clearly nursing an knee injury and the stopper couldn't get down to it, the ball trickled over the line at a painful pace, and if Mellor's injury is severe we may regret releasing Glyn Garner.

Lee Howells did then ring the changes, bringing on Marc Canham, Morgan and Aaron Brown, and despite a very late rally, where Morgan miscued a right footer effort and Mark Preece had a shot cleared, but that was basically it. The game finished 0-2 and around 375 of the 386 sloped off into the bitterly cold night air. I walked across the pitch after the game and it was frozen solid, so I don't envy the players being on the pitch.

Then a day later came chairman's Manda Rigby's statement about the trouble Bath City FC are in, and the need to leave lovely old, gorgeous Twerton Park.

I have posted a link to the statement here. (http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Bath-City-chairman-Manda-Rigby-answers-critics/story-17863345-detail/story.html) While I am saddened at the thoughts of leaving Twerton, I think a lot of fans accept that this maybe the only option for the club being that it is saddled with debt. I have been pleasantly surprised by the reasoned reactions (for once) but do wonder how we can sell TP, and with the money made from that sale, clear the debts, buy land and build a new ground. It seems unlikely but hopefully the board are working on something that would work, although I fear that we will end up being second class citizens to the rugby club.

Basingstoke Town (A)

This is being written three days after the game when Bath City are playing in Weston super Mare (the rearranged game from the disgracefully cancelled New Years Day game, and they possibly might not be playing as WsM won't confirm the game is going ahead!) but given the appalling treatment last time I refuse to go to the game and give them any money.

On Saturday City traveled to Basingstoke, I wasn't going to go, so hadn't arranged for coach or train travel. However, Friday I started to think it was a good idea to go, and I awoke on Saturday morning, and thought "What the hell else are you going to do?" Therefore I arranged to collect Palmer, and hopped in the car for the relatively short journey to Hampshire.

Basingstoke play at The Camrose (apparently named after a late benefactor Lord Camrose) although they have a planning application to build a new ground and sell off the Camrose to developers. Palmsy and myself arrived in Basingstoke around 45 minutes before kick off, and the experience confirmed once again why I will always take the train over coach or car as we parked up, and the only option was the clubhouse.

While there was nothing particularly wrong with the clubhouse, they are just generally slightly depressing, Phoenix Nights styled places, and Charlie's/Randalls for all their niceness have the same air, and it is why I will always drink in the Crown/White Horse etc or proper pubs on awaydays rather than in clubhouses.

We went into the ground earlier than usual due to boredom brought about by the clubhouse. The Camrose, is a neat enough ground, but is small with one reasonable sized main stand, two terraces and one uncovered end. It was while in the ground (and getting some chips) that we found out Charlie Griffin was on the bench, as was Kerry Morgan, with 5 in midfield.

City were attacking the covered terrace opposite where we were standing so we began our movement around the pitch.

Before we had even reached the end there was a flash of black and white and Danny Ball hared past us and into the box, the young full back cut inside and fed Josh Low who placed the ball into the corner, City were one up with less than a minute played.

City were playing well, and loanee Tom Nichols up front started to show some of his football league class (and the form which brought him 10 in 13 for Dorchester Town) However, Nichols more that justified his selection, despite what some people [most of whom weren't there] would have you believe, and I write that as a man who thinks Griffin is our best player by a countrymile.

Basingstoke had a few chances, before Ball once again fed Low, the towering midfielder ignored the near constant cry's of "shooooot" as he tried to steady himself before unleashing a shot towards the top corner, a brilliant clawing save by the keeper managed to tip the ball behind for a corner.

However, moments later,  despite the positive signs City's weakness once again struck. Mark Preece dropped a massive clanger when all he had to do was clear a ball, instead some how it fell to Sam-York who fired home.

Low had his third good chance just before half time, when Noah Keats laid it on a plate for him, somehow Low managed to steer his shot wide when it seemed harder to miss from that position. Cue some fairly justifiable anger from stripes gathered around me.

During the second half we became involved in some light hearted pisstaking with the opposition keeper, mainly due to a man who must have been 6" 3' and 14stone who went down like he'd been shot when little Tom Nichols challenged him! To be fair to the keeper he gave some back and applauded a cracking save by Jason Mellor late in the game.

Basingstoke were having much the better of the second half, but Keats almost scored when a ball was threaded through to him by Nichols, sadly the ball didn't quite drop for the sliding Keats and when another chance came the midfielder couldn't get the ball out of his feet.

Morgan came on for Low in an attempt to change the game, but before Morgan had been on the field a minute City were behind. This time it was Gethin Jones who couldn't defend and the ball was in the back of the stripes net.

Griffin and Simpson both came on, but for the second game in succession the Romans seemed dead on their feet from about the 75th minute and no late rally was to be seen. Despite the positives, which came from the excellent performances by the youngsters, Ball, Keats and Nichols, once again City have lost a game they arguably deserved more from. We are now dangerously close to the relegation zone, and this is causing more than a few mumours of discontent, hopefully a good run of form will happen to raise the black and white spirits. UTC.

Weston super Mare FC, officially the tinpottiest of tinpot clubs

After the game against Weston super Mare on Boxing Day and the cancellations, and the continuing bad weather I did not expect the Weston super Mare away game on New Years Day to go ahead. With that in mind I didn't bother setting an alarm for the 9 o'clock pitch inspection, I did wake at 9:30, and found that the inspection had been pushed back to 10:30, "Ah the game is definitely off" I thought before rolling over and going back to sleep.

I did wake at 10:40ish, and found that the pitch inspection had been passed and the game was to go ahead. This completely screwed my original intention of getting the 11am train from Bath Spa, but the game was on! Happy days! So I caught a later train on my own and spent a leisurely hour traveling to WsM.

I arrived at the station and spoke to the stripes I was meant to meet on the earlier train, they were in The Waverley pub (named after a quality steamer which used to go down from Bristol to WsM and across to Wales) I entered, ordered a Tribute and spoke to the stripes outside. Myself and Tim decided to move inside, and I sat down a maximum of 15 minutes after arriving in WsM, at which point incredulously Pete walked in and informed us the game had been called off...

What!? I hear you scream, but there was a pitch inspection you cry. Yes, there was. And yet WsM FC once again proved what an amateur, crappy, awful little club they are, village teams are organised better, and definitely teams like Buckland Athletic, Bradford Town et al of Western League.

Suddenly 8 stripes were crestfallen, what to do, what to do. Sadly this could not be a Salisbury saviour (due to the impending doom of the 1st day at work) But we visited the pier, and went to the quality The Regency pub (The Waverley and Regency are definitely the best two pubs I've seen in WsM) So an enjoyable day was eventually salvaged, but WsM FC are now edging Crawley in clubs I truly despise.

Oh and in more devastating news Jim Rollo (Sir Jim Rollo, Jimmer, Rollodinho) club captain, record appearance holder and all round amazing man has left to join Chippenham as he wants to play more football, this news was truly heartbreaking, but Jim will forever be loved by anyone with black and white blood.

UTC!!!

Christmas Disappointments

As we all know, the main excitement of the festive season is not the celebration nor the presents, but is the festive football games.

City were scheduled to play on 22nd (Havant and Waterlooville, away), 26th (WsM, home) and 29th (Dorchester Town, home).

So come the 22nd December, and despite a 30th birthday party the night before (not mine I hasten to add!!) at 9:25 six stripes met and boarded the train to Havant, precisely 2 minutes later we received the call informing us that the game was off due to the rain. We broke the news to the 3 additional stripes who boarded the train at Bradford on Avon, the decision was made to disembark at Salisbury, and a jolly boys outing commenced, where many great pints of Hop Back breweries beers were sunk, including a trip to the iconic Wyndham Arms, where Hop Back was founded, so the cancelled Saturday was salvaged and a good time was had by all.

Come Boxing Day and the biblical rain continued to sweep the southwest, luckily Twerton Park's slope and normally good drainage continued, and the game was played. The visit of Weston Super Mare, and their 7 fans is definitely a come down from the Conference National days.

As we arrived at the ground the weather was atrocious, and you could tell how much water the pitch was containing. The weather definitely played a part in a game that had moments of quality (most of it supplied by Charlie Griffin) and moments of farce. The stripes battled manfully in the conditions, which worsened at one point, and a lot of us expected the game to be abandoned, but the referee allowed the game to continue.

Weston super Mare scored just after the half hour, with the use of a hand (I think it was Kane Ingram who handled it home, but am not 100% certain) Shortly afterwards Griffin was fed, the keeper saved, but Griffin slipped and slid across the wet turf and slammed into the concrete wall that surrounds the pitch at Twerton Park. Griffin seemed momentarily unconscious, and there was genuine concern for the burly centre forward, thankfully he picked himself off of the floor after some treatment.

Moments before half time a ball was whipped into the WsM box, and Griffin challenged for it, the keeper spilled the ball and in his desperation to retrieve it, he hauled Charlie down, or at least that is what the referee must have seen as the penalty was awarded, personally it seemed a bit soft. Griffin stepped up and fired the ball home. 1-1 at HT.

Half time seemed to be taking an age, and then there was an announcement over the tannoy that the linesman had injured himself, and that they were after a replacement from the stands, a fully qualified City fan was found, and thanks to him we were able to continue the game.

For the first 20 minutes of the second half, the stripes battered WsM and should have scored, but a combination of keeper, weather, unlucky breaks and poor finishing cost City, as WsM scored after the dominant period to make it 1-2. City seemed to run out of ideas, and strength as the pitch rapidly began to resemble No Man's Land from the First World War (in terms of mud obviously...) Sean Canham was brought on, and it has since turned out that the lanky frontman is moving to Australia soon. The game ended, and ridiculously and shamefully people booed a team that had done it's best in testing conditions.

Then came what should have been the best game of the Christmas spell, Dorchester Town at home, however, as I walked into town, Victoria Park was basically underwater and news of a pitch inspection at 10:30 caused my heart to drop, as expected the game was postponed.

Therefore out of 3 games, two which we would have expected the stripes to win, we have had two postponed and one lost! Not what City wanted, with the weather set to continue, I can't see the game against WsM on New Years Day going as well, so we will be having a lot more Tuesday night games soon!

A game of two halves (and other cliches)

Given the ridiculous way fixture lists seem to be created, and our propensity for being knocked out of cup games this was the first game at Twerton in almost a month, and is the last game until Boxing Day.

City were welcoming Eastbourne Borough who as recently as 2010/11 were in the Conference National, but like us soon dropped back into the Conference South. For a team that were once in the national league they brought a very small amount of away fans, with myself seeing precisely zero fans, I assume there must have been a few, but I imagined they might have brought a coach load at least.

Since the last home game the stripes have taken Tom Nichols on loan from Exeter City, and the young forward was keeping Charlie Griffin out of the team, Jason Mellor continued in goal, and Kerry Morgan was still on the bench, much to the annoyance of some of the people around me.

This was the first game that had the real bite of winter to it, as the steam rose from cups of Bovril and teas all around and hands were covered in gloves, muffling any clapping.

Adam Connolly seemed to be regaining some of his verve from years gone by, and City started brightly enough, however, our poor defence struck once again. A long ball was misjudged by Preece, and Mellor raced out of his goal and was caught in no mans land allowing Kezie Ibe to lob the ball over Mellor into the unguarded net.

City battled back, and but didn't create many chances, and right on the stroke of half time a freekick was given away by Danny Ball, the resulting freekick was whipped in, and for the umpteenth time this season City conceded to a headed goal.

In the second half the stripes rallied, and gave the proverbial 110%, but were unable to make a difference until Morgan and Griffin came on for the ineffectual Canham and Low. Kerry Morgan showed again how much of a threat he is to a tiring full back, by doing the defender on a number of occasions. City reduced the arrears on 76 minutes, when a ball into the box eventually found its way to Danny Ball, who's strike took at least one, possibly two deflections before ending up in the net 1-2, and with 15 minutes left there was opportunity to secure a point or more.

The two substitutes linked up soon after, where an inviting cross from Morgan was met with a thundering header by Griffin, sadly the ball crashed off the crossbar and away. The fans started to really get behind the men in black and white, and City swarmed in desperate search for an equaliser, Mark Preece blazed over the bar, when he should have done better. Finally, agonisingly for Eastbourne City snatched a draw when Kerry Morgans freekick pinballed around the box, before Gethin Jones lashed the ball home, a defender got to the ball but it was clearly over the line, and in the last minute City had secured a dramatic draw.

Sadly, we have to wait till Boxing Day for the next home game, but absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.

Farnborough (home) - Apologies for the delay!

For one reason or another it has taken me over a week to write this, so I will not bother with the usual report and will direct your attention here...

What I will say about the game is this; it was a cracker. End to end, decent football, some bloody good goals. People are unbelievably still moaning, but in the last few games I've seen masses of goals, controversy and decent football. The Farnborough manager moaned and claimed the last chance of the game was over the line and blocked his own team from releasing the highlights, well all I can say is check this video out (courtesy of Palms) and make up your own minds.

Up the City.

Eastleigh away, thankfully it was only a flying Tuesday visit

Having missed the home 3-1 win against Hornchurch, I was craving a stripey fix, so the Tuesday night game at Eastleigh seemed too good to miss. Having been moved to Yeovilton by work there is no chance I am catching the coach anymore, so was driving. Salisbury is enroute to Eastleigh (which is basically a glorified Southampton suburb, complete with Southampton airport) and it was there that I collected Palmer before continuing onto Eastleigh.

A certain City fan will tell you that The Cricketers Arms is one of the best pubs around and was highlighting it as a pub he was looking forward to, well why I do not know. It is ok, serves a few decent ales, but all in all is a posh Wetherspoon/Hungry Horse type of pub, and it does not hold a candle to The Bridge End Inn, King and Crown, or many of the brilliant pubs we have visited in the last few years.

In the pub, we met two other stripes, and were quickly joined by a third. One of the fans was trying to direct his father, brother and mate to the pub, with little success but amusing directions, we crammed into my car (it is a small car, 5 fully grown blokes in was a tad tight) and headed to the Silverlake Stadium, home to Eastleigh since 1957.

I had been to the ground in our promotion season, and since then they have added some extra roofing, but not the greatest roof as there are no terracing, so the roof is a good 8 yards away from the pitch! Weird, the only thing of note of the ground is a illuminated Spitfire a nod to the fact that the famous warplane was manufactured nearby.

Jim Rollo was playing in centre midfield due to an injury to Connolly, while Marc Canham is still out with his ankle injury sustained while coaching Bristol City youth, and again the injury list is building up. Eastleigh had the best of the opening and flew at City, the stripes could barely get out of their own half and within 16 minutes the stripes were two down. Garner pulled off a cracking double save to keep the score down, but City were being overrun.

However, against the run of play, in the 34th minute City managed to get a goal back, the ball was worked to Josh Low who strode forward and fired a shot in, the shot was fired straight at keeper Ross Flitney who spilled the ball into Chris Allen's pass, and the young midfielder fired home his 4th in 5 games, a good return and one of many reasons why City have signed him up on a long term deal.

The goal was to be a brief rally, as within 5 minutes Eastleigh had scored again. The goal came from some abysmal defending high up the pitch. City had a freekick which broke to the corner of the pitch, Aaron Brown and Allen (I think) were both there, but neither closed down the Eastleigh player, and within 20 seconds Eastleigh had scored from a breakaway goal. 3-1 at HT.

The second half was of dire quality, with minimal chances created, with Eastleigh content to sit back on their lead, while City played lots of sideways passes, but rarely burst forward with pace and conviction. City are not a bad team, but the similarity of our midfielders is definitely a problem. The game finished 3-1 with few clear cut chances. When you're best moment of the half is listening to Brian Yorke sing "Always look on the bright side of life" to himself you know it's been poor.

We headed home, with Palmer still waiting for his first league away win in 23 months, hopefully this run will finish soon.