Before I begin my description of today's match, I first want to outline what I will be doing on the blog for the next few days. Today I'm going to describe the match play from my perspective. Tomorrow I'm going to talk about the Chelmsford City ground and the very friendly Chelmsford supporters I met there. On Monday I'm going to finish up by talking about the unique phenomenon of the supporters coach and away match travel - just in time for me to talk about the home opener against Maidenhead on Tuesday. But now, today's match.....
Due to some really shocking traffic on the M25 the City players' coach did not arrive at Melbourne Park until half an hour before kick-off. Despite this City played for the first ten minutes like a team ready to take command of the match. There was good passing, intelligent play, and pressure on the Chelmsford goal. Then, at ten minutes, against the run of play, a long free kick was fumbled by our on-loan keeper, Will Putty. Chelmsford's Danny Hocton was in the right place to capitalise and was able to tap the ball in to give his team an early lead.
Perhaps Puddy was suffering from nerves. Perhaps the team's late arrival at the ground had thrown his composure. Perhaps the shocking state of the pitch in front of the goal contributed. Whatever the reason, his composure got much worse and his keeping skills totally deserted him for the next fourteen minutes. A simple lob shot, maybe not even intentionally aimed at the goal, from Jason Hallett four minutes later bounced over Puddy's outstretched fingers. Hallett scored again five minutes after that, this time after heading in another looping pass in a six yard box Puddy was unable to take control of. By this time the City faithful were in a state of shock. We sat helpless at the opposite end of the ground while it appeared that our hopes for the season were being shattered by a single hapless player. Puddy looked decidedly shaky for the rest of the match. Every time he touched the ball without letting it roll into his own net the Chelmsford fans cheered sarcastically, but the City fans cheered too. Any touch at this point that did not end in a goal for the opposition was an improvement.
But improvement was still a ways off for Mr. Puddy. At twenty-five minutes Putty failed to control a ball in his six yard box again, and after pinging about a bit it was volleyed into the net by Anthony Cook. Four goals had been allowed in fifteen minutes. The only positive thing at all anyone in the Bath City crowd could say was that at this point Norwich City were losing 5-0 to Colchester after the same amount of play.
Things appeared to get even worse. Sido Jombarti's arm was struck by the ball in the box. A penalty was awarded, and Puddy was in the spotlight again. And he stopped it! The keeper who had just let in four goals stopped a penalty! The brave band of City fans at the far end of the pitch went crazy (me among them) and suddenly the momentum switched back into City's favour.
From this point of the match City took control. To me, this was a remarkable achievement, and the biggest sign of improvement over the City team of last year. It was not that last year's squad lacked spirit. Continuing to play to win when you are 4-0 down, and I mean really playing to win and not just shouting about it, is a really impressive achievement. It was not one player either. The whole team raised their game a notch and starting pressing hard against the Chelmsford goal.
A defensive lapse by Chelmsford helped. Darren Edwards set up Richard Evans for a tap in goal after a mistimed back header went over the Chelmsford keeper's head. The goal needed a defensive mistake, but City had to work hard to capitalise on it and Edwards showed a composure he has sometimes lacked in the past.
A soft penalty later, scored by Edwards, and City had managed to make a horrifically embarrassing performance half-way respectable. You won't get any points for it in the standings, but I think a lot of chutzpah was demonstrated in that first half.
The second half had a completely different character, which is good or I would have arrived back home having aged ten years. After a tentative minute or two City began to impose themselves again. The Clarets had either decided to rest on their two goal lead, or had been spooked by City's fight back or something, because they started to unravel, especially in defence. Clearing the ball out of their half suddenly became a real challenge for them.
Last season there were two consistent gripes about City's play. One was the dependence on the long ball, or 'hoof and run' as it is known. The second was that even against lower opposition City was often unable to even appear likely to score without 'walking the ball in.' Players would get the ball in a good position in front of the opposing net and not know what to do with it.
Both those concerns were laid to rest today. I can only remember a handful of long balls coming from the back four over the midfielders' heads. High balls were chested down and controlled in a way I have not seen before. Intelligent, creative passes made an appearance. Chelmsford's defence was decidedly ropey, but after seeing City stall in front of the goal against Aylesbury United (from two leagues below) in last year's FA Cup exit I was very pleased to see the team's progress.
At the hour mark ex-Team Bath player, Mike Perrott, came on for Browning and, although in theory a mid-fielder, played as a forward coming down the right hand side. His fir
st activity with the ball was to make an excellent cross in front of the Clarets' keeper. This was a sign of things to come. I like watching Perrott play because he seems hungry to score and he shows the knack for being in the right place at the right time. At 80 minutes Jim Rollo beat a defender, made an excellent cross to Perrott who then replied with a header right on target past the outstretched arms of Craig Holloway. The Bath City support went bananas!Oh yeah, not long before this Mark Badman was shown his second yellow card and sent off by a very inconsistent referee, Andrew Parker. So we really went Bananas because City had just scored with ten men!
With ten minutes to go it seemed like City would pull off an impossible fight back. They continued to play with pace and vigour and kept Chelmsford on the back foot. In the end, they ended up a goal short.
Today's match showed up a few problems for City, with goalkeeping being the obvious top of the list. With first and second choice keepers injured it is a tough situation. Still, going into today's match everyone was worried about strikers and scoring goals. City scored three, equalling the goal tally of the first four City matches last season.
And, as I have said repeatedly now, City played with a lot of heart. The Black and White Army showed their appreciation with a long ovation for our heroes. We were clapping long after the Chelmsford fans were queueing for the exit.
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