Dog Days at Twerton Park

Bath City drew against Bishop's Stortford at home in front of 558 people yesterday. That was not how things were supposed to go.

No. Things were supposed to go very differently. City were supposed to crush Bishop's Stortford as they did at the away fixture 5-1. This was supposed to happen in front of a bumper crowd made up of people drawn back after the great football they saw at the last two Saturday home matches (1,404 against Newport County and 3,325 against Forest Green Rovers). That's the way I had planned it, anyway.

The last time I had seen City in action had been at their 3-1 away victory at Woking. This had been a superb performance in adverse conditions. It was followed by a fairly routine victory against the hapless Weston-super-Mare on Boxing Day. Being just a few points out of the playoff zone, and in excellent form, was creating a real sense of momentum among the City supporters. And then, like some sort of evil snow monster, the bad weather took hold, and matches got cancelled. Without kicking a ball, City found itself slipping down the table. When the Thurrock match went ahead against all expectations last Saturday, City played disappointingly and lost 3-1. Now after drawing to Bishop's Stortford, City are in tenth place and eight points behind the playoffs. Despite everyone's best intentions, all that momentum seems to have melted away with the snow.

I did not know this yet as I arrived at Twerton Park with the two Nedved Juniors. I was mostly just relieved to be back at a live match - the last two times I had been to Twerton I had found the games called off. I was excited to see the new enormous flag that had been organised by 'WSP' and his burgeoning group of City Ultras. The origins of this enormous Naval ensign have been kept obscure, but a whipround among the fans has paid for the City badge and the words 'BATH CITY' to be added to it. My Latvian flag with 'ANDREJS' painted on it, looking rather small and insignificant in comparison, made its first appearance as well.

Although the crowd appeared to be much smaller than I had hoped as the match kicked off, the opening spell of play looked very encouraging. Kaid Mohamed and Darren Edwards had the look of a potent partnership from the first whistle, and Lewis Hogg and Adam Connolly appeared to be in good form as well. The play was slightly scrappier, and more reliant on the long ball than I had remembered before the new year. It only seemed a matter of time, though, before City took the lead.

I started to get worried after about fifteen minutes, however, when City had not scored. Stortford was not looking likely to score themselves, but both teams began to struggle to do anything but knock the ball around in midfield. I got more worried when Darren Edwards went off at the twenty minute mark. It turned out Edwards was about to suffer a migraine and his vision had started blurring. He was replaced by the controversial Stuart Douglas.

When Douglas arrived at Twerton Park at the beginning of last season, he looked like he would be a goal-scoring machine for City. He was, once, against Newport County, about a year ago. He can show impressive ball skills, and frequently gets the ball in good positions in the penalty box. Frustratingly, this rarely results in a goal. Douglas doesn't help his case with the fans by regularly falling over and frequently getting called offside.

I try not to be negative about Douglas. Nothing would be better for City than for him to prove his critics wrong. That scenario wasn't looking likely, though, as all of City's forward attack appeared to have dried up. Both teams looked ineffectual, and I began to wonder if a 0-0 draw was on the cards. If this continued then City would need a bit of magic to score.

And then, the magic happened. Douglas fought for a ball in Bishop Stortford's half, and although he fell to the ground in the process, the ball rolled to City captain Jim Rollo. He slotted the ball neatly to Adam Connolly, who passed it to Lewis Hogg with one touch. Hogg, sent the ball right back to the advancing Connolly with a looping chip. Connolly struck the ball with a powerful volley from twenty-five yards out, right into the bottom left corner of the net. As City had been the dominant team for most of the match, you couldn't call it a goal against the run of play. It certainly wasn't expected, though.

Bishop Stortford had showed so little interest in City's goal so far, I felt very relaxed with City's single goal lead. Several chances for City came before the end of the half. The best came when Douglas got the ball in the penalty box unmarked, but stumbled before he could square up for the shot. Although the half ended with the score only 1-0, I thought City had a good chance of opening up a big lead before the game was over.

The second goal came within a minute of the restart. Connolly got the ball on the break and found Kaid Mohamed on the right. I thought he might score on his own, but a Stortford defender caught up with him as he neared the goal line. After tracking back a few yards, Mohamed made a perfect, head-high diagonal cross to Hogg. A brilliant goal, and a sign that City's pre-snow form was returning.

Except, almost immediately after the goal, the pre-snow form disappeared again. Perhaps because Bishop's Stortford had shown absolutely no inclination to score up to this point, City appeared to be happy to let them have most of the ball from this point. Stortford still didn't look very effective, but they certainly got plenty of time to practice penetrating the Ctiy defence. The practice paid off just after the hour mark. After several ineffective attempts to clear the ball, City sat back and let Stortford string together nine uninterrupted passes mostly around mid-field. Although none of the passes looked very threatening, eventually one was made to Charlie Sherringham at the top of the penalty box. He chested the ball down and struck it sharply into the City net. 2-1.

I've seen City show a tremendous amount of character in tough situations throughout this season. It was a real shock to see the same team allow an opponent back into a match through complacency. It was even more shocking to see City be just as complacent after the goal. After watching City sit back for another fifteen minutes, it was not shocking to see Charlie Sherringham score a second goal to level the score. A simple pass across the goal mouth eluded City keeper Ryan Robinson. Sherringham was in the right place to tap it into the net.

City did play better once they had blown their two goal lead, but I am too depressed to write about it. They came close to taking the lead again a couple times, but they really shouldn't have been in the position to need to take the lead again. The game was all but sewn up a minute into the second half. It was two points dropped, and dropped with an enormous thud. Suddenly, everyone, including me, is on a downer.

It goes without saying that after watching a two-goal lead disappear, the emotions in the stand ranged from anger to despair. The Bath City message board has been full of comments about how the playoffs are now out of reach and efforts should be concentrated on next season. In his post-match interview, manager Adie Britton said he doesn't have the money he needs to bolster the squad anyway at the moment. "It appears the money from the FA Cup has been spent on the quiet winter period when we haven't had games and we simply don't have the cash flow apparently to sign players," he said. Bummer.

Although I am usually a 'glass-half-full' type of person, I can't help but share in the generally miserable mood that has descended on the Bath City faithful. I have a lot of affection for this year's City squad, and the idea that they might end up merely mid-table really depresses me. Although they are capable of playing brilliant football, they need to play it more consistently than they are now if they are going to make the playoffs. After yesterday's match, that seems unlikely.

A bit of simple analysis, however, shows that this negative outlook is not really borne out by the facts. Bath City are eight points adrift of the playoffs, but there are eighteen matches left. Every single one of those matches appears, at least on paper, winnable (well, maybe not the away match to Bromley, but I say that only because City never seem to win there). Adie Britton needs more money and a bigger squad, but that's nothing new. He's accomplished so much with a limited budget so far, it is a bit early to start planning for next year. After yesterday, progressing to the playoffs might not feel likely to me, but the City players won't be concerning themselves with my feelings. Yesterday was an ugly draw, and that's all it was. Onward!

Highlights of the match can be seen here.