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!

Eastleigh (Home)

On a squally, windswept Saturday, Bath City welcomed (welcomed in the loosest sense) Eastleigh to Twerton. Due to a stag do, there were actually Eastleigh fans in attendance and given there usual home crowd of 300 that is a surprise!

Richard Hill the manager of Eastleigh had been shitstirring in the week, by claiming two City players had texted him during the week saying they were available for next season, but then in best ‘Arry Redknapp style he claimed it was “nothing to do with me I might add” clearly bullshitting comes naturally to managers based in Hampshire.

Eastleigh have been throwing some money around, and ridiculously contain Chris Zebroski in their ranks, who was playing 4^th tier football until earlier this season, and it reportedly on £1k a week with a £1k goal bonus, which cannot be sustainable for Eastleigh, and you wonder if a Weymouth/Kettering Town/Truro City situation is brewing.

Once again the stripes were to be indebted to Jason Mellor, with the keeper coming to the rescue of City on a good few occasions. One of the good news stories of the week is that Mellor has signed on for next season, which is brilliant news as he has grown in stature and ability on a game by game basis.

Noah Keats had a rasping drive from distance on 10 minutes that narrowly flew wide, but this was all City really created in the first half hour, with Eastleigh enjoying more of the possession and attacking threat, but when City’s next chance did arrive it again fell to Keats and Ross Flitney had to parry the ball around his post.

The pitch was looking fairly bad as the continued bad weather of the last few months wreaked havoc with the Twerton pitch, and I imagine the grounds man is praying for the season to end to allow the pitch some time to recover.

Nearing the end of the  half, Mellor bravely dived at the feet of an onrushing attacker, and if he’d mistimed it City were in all sorts of trouble, however, Jason clearly connected with the ball and the danger was snuffed out.

The half finished 0-0, and during the half time interval it was announced that Daz had raised over £2k for his charity, so a big thumbs up to everyone there.

A dangerous counterattack for Eastleigh, looked like leaving the stripes in all kinds of trouble, until Danny Ball pulled off a brilliant, sliding tackle, that while entirely fair was robust and committed, it actually accidently led to an injury for Michael Green who was substituted shortly after.

Ryan Charles came on for Chris Allen, and it was the substitute which set up the Romans opener. Charles took the ball down the right, and crossed into the area, and it struck either (depending on your view) the shoulder or the upper arm that was moved towards the ball, the referee shook his head vigorously, however, the linesman clearly thought it had struck the arm, as the flag was raised across his chest, and the penalty was given.

Eastleigh players disgracefully hurled a barrage of abuse at the linesman and the referee should really have booked a few of them, but the penalty stood, and Charlie Griffin stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way with a confident penalty, scoring his 20^th goal of the season.

City were one up, but never truly deserved the lead, but looked like hanging on for the victory, despite some important saves by Mellor and some wasteful Eastleigh finishing, sadly it was not to be and in a ridiculous 6^th minute of injury time the ball was crossed into the box, it bounced around for a little bit before dropping to the feet of Adam Watkins who lashed the ball home, he and the rest of the Eastleigh team then proceeded to celebrate like they’d won the World Cup, including some over the top celebrations from the aforementioned odious Richard Hill.

However, the win would have been massively undeserved and the point now means the mighty stripes are mathematically safe and will be playing Conference South football next season. Up the City!

Chelmsford City Away

What with the season drawing to a close, and City looking comfortably secure in their midtable obscurity, the question has to be asked could anyone be arsed travelling across the country to Essex, to watch the stripes take on Chelmsford?

Surprisingly the answer was yes, as it’s a Saturday so what else will you do? It also gave me a convenient excuse to travel to London to see my mates who live there now. So I travelled over on the Friday, and spent an enjoyable evening in The Bricklayers Arms, Putney (a pub I cannot recommend highly enough) before getting up Saturday morning to head into the heart of Essex.

A quick tube to London Liverpool Street, a pasty, then onto the quick train to Chelmsford, before stepping into the sunshine just past 1pm, to see the living stereotypes of Essex girls, all fake tan, fake tits, fake eyelashes and bleached blonde hair, proving the point that stereotypes while not always true do have a grain of truth to them (currently as I am in the West Country I am drinking cider and eating cheddar…this may not be true)

 Chelmsford City, currently play at an athletics ground called Melbourne Stadium, that is on the outskirts of Chelmsford, we wandered there via a massive 1950’s suburban housing estate, that I am sure formed the basis of modern urban dystopian stories. The rabbit warren nature of the estate necessitated much use of smart phone map technology as we struggled to find our way there.

As an aside on Chelmsford City, they have a more unusual story on their foundation, while lots of clubs were formed as works teams, or church teams (Manchester City are one formed via that route) Chelmsford City though are the continuation of Chelmsford FC who were founded by the Chelmsford lawn tennis and croquet club in 1878, lawn tennis and croquet being posher than the usual miners/mill workers!

On finding the ground, we went to the nearest pub, which was the Red Beret, the pub was a modern, purpose built pub, and in actuality while not being the best it was much better than the exterior suggested, however, with no ale on tap I had my first pints of Guinness in many a year.

On exiting the pub, we walked the short distance to the ground, and paid the £11.50 entrance fee (why the 50p? every other club is round pounds) squeezed through the turnstile and was asked to vote for player of the year before he spotted my City pin badge.

The ground is as to be expected, pretty crap, but then athletic stadiums are made for athletics not football. There are a couple of temporary stands on the edge of pitch inside the running track, a seated stand down one side which is the running track distance away, then the main stand which has the sandpit as well, and is miles away from the pitch. The main problem with football in athletic grounds is the distance from the pitch, and the fact that they look so disjointed as nothing within the ground merges, so it doesn’t feel like a football ground.

Chelmsford do though, have an amazing little club shop that is in a shed! Literally, your off the shelf, B&Q standard shed, which now finds life selling claret shirts and scarves, however, given that Twerton Park doesn’t have a club shop, who am I to mock?

Sheddy club shop delight

Despite the dead rubber nature of the game, a surprisingly large number of City fans had made their way to Chelmsford, and watched the same side (minus the ill Preece with Allen taking his place) that started against Salisbury take the field.

City started quite well against a Chelmsford team who were massive fans of the long ball, and had a few good crossing opportunities, which were either marginally overhit or that Griffin headed over the bar when he did connect.

That said the Clarets were making the City defence deal with some pressure as well, and there were a few heart in mouth moments, with Mellor forced to pull off a couple of saves, one that only just went wide after his touch.

From a corner Griffin almost smuggled the ball home, this was despite the fact Stuart Searle was clearly fouling the Bath born forward by pulling his shirt and generally fouling the front man, this was seized upon as a sign the keeper didn’t like the pressure, and from subsequent corners Gethin Jones surrounded the keeper, and it was nice to see footballers thinking and taking advantage of a weakness in the opposition team.

Gethin almost scored soon after from an Aaron Brown free kick, and both the long serving centre back and fans could not work out how the ball had not gone in from his header.

Soon after the Chelmsford fans and players were even more perplexed as to how they had not taken the lead, when a cross from Cook was met powerfully at close range by Slabber, the ball cannoned against the crossbar, down onto what I can only assume was the line, before up into Mellor’s hands. A mightily close shave for City.

Look how far from the pitch the stand is

Neither side managed to score and the half time interval arrived with the score at 0-0.

The stripes broke the deadlock soon after half time with the easiest goal they have scored in years, Sekani Simpson took a quick throw down the line to Josh Low that took the whole Chelmsford defence by surprise, Low took two touches before floating over a delicious cross, which Griffin despite the close attention of two defenders expertly headed back across Searle into the net. One nil to the stripes and Chelmsford were furious with themselves.

Chelmsford then brought on a centre forward who was taller than Peter Crouch, and resorted even more to the long ball, but City were weathering the onslaught well, although did settle into their annoying habit of sitting back a touch too deep, inviting pressure on themselves.

Nevertheless, it was Bath City who came the closest to scoring again, Noah Keats, easily my pick for player of the season, burst forward showing the drive and tenacity that has been the hall mark of his game, he kept coming and defenders kept backing off him, until he was in the area, it seemed to open up for the shot, but for some reason he opted not to shoot and tried to play a square ball into substitute Marc Canham’s pass, the ball sadly was behind Canham and the chance was lost. It is an increasingly frustrating habit of some of City’s midfield to refuse the opportunity to have a shot when in the area, but it wasn’t to matter as the whistle was blown and City had beaten play off chasing Chelmsford and secured themselves (baring a whole host of unlikely results) Conference South football for next season.

The 6^th game unbeaten was celebrated in The Railway Tavern, a much better pub than The Red Beret, which had a good array of beers on, and some superb railway memorabilia on the walls that a certain missing stripe would have enjoyed. A surprisingly enjoyable away day was had, and if they don’t get promoted one I will probably do next season. UTC.