To Soar with the Eagles You Have to Defeat Some Turkeys - Part 1

Bath City defeated Weston-super-Mare 1-0 last night. It was an important victory. City are now in eighth place, but only four points behind second place Woking. A victory over Dover Athletic this coming Saturday will almost certainly launch City for the first time this season into a playoff spot. Holy change-of-fortune, Batman!

Just a week ago, following a loss to Thurrock and a demoralising draw with Bishop's Stortford, the playoffs seemed a distant hope. Now they are there for the taking. But wait, you ask, have we not been down this road before? Has City's current position in the table (eighth) not been a barrier that City have appeared to be on the verge of passing several times in the last two seasons, only to disappoint? Yes, that is true. Eighth place has seemed like the natural home of Bath City ever since I began following them. There are rumours if they spend much more time there the Conference is going to bill the club for rent. Why, you ask, why do you think this is any different from the previous times City arrived in eighth place, appeared on the brink of top five place, and failed to deliver?

Two reasons. One is that I'm an optimist (read: stupid). Even if City were in fact a terrible team but had fortuitously found themselves in the top half of the table I would find a way to fool myself into thinking, 'this is our year!' (Havant & Waterlooville fans take note). The other reason is that the one thing that has constantly thwarted our brave men in stripes whenever they appear to be on the verge of greatness is.....bad teams. Yes, City will beat the tar out of Woking home and away, but will they be able to grind out three points against the teams propping up the table? Last year the answer was no. Just as the fixture list began to unfold into a series of 'sure-thing' victories last February, City managed to lose three 'sure things' on the trot. The most heartbreaking was a 0-1 loss to lowly Fisher Athletic. Fisher were so humbled by financial problems the team could not even afford training facilities. For a fundraiser they let fans manage the team. Once they had to borrow a game ball from some kids who lived across the street from the ground (okay, that's not true). Would this year's Fisher Athletic turn into another banana skin, and scupper another Bath City season?

This year's Fisher Athletic is our local rivals, Weston-super-Mare AFC. This is a very bad team. They have been bad for many years, but as winter has set in they have achieved new levels of badness. Their form going into last night was no wins, no draws, and six losses. In that time they have scored two goals and allowed fourteen. I would say that they could not fight their way out of a paper bag, but actually fighting is the one thing that they have been consistently good at. No wait, they've also been very good at getting their matches called off (see here).

Last night I arrived at the ground early on purpose. I had arrived on time for the New Year's Day match, only to find that Chris Smith had pressured the match referee (Mr. Anthony Coggins - more on him later), to reverse his earlier decision to allow the match to proceed. Instead of watching an important match I ended up watching Bath City train on the 'unplayable' pitch. I couldn't think of a way (or a reason) the Weston management team could pull the same stunt twice, but it hadn't made much sense the first time round either. At first, when I didn't see their coach in the parking lot I thought they had done another runner. It turned out that they had already arrived. Weston is close enough to Bath that rather than hire a coach they had just bummed rides off their mates (or something like that).

Bath City's rivalry with Weston has been remarkably one-sided. Although the two sides have been playing each other for over a hundred years, City have yet to lose in any of the encounters. In fact, every match has ended in a City victory except for one draw in 1911 (in a 'Bristol Charity League' match - like that counts!). In the six matches the two sides have played since City's promotion to the Blue Square South, Weston have yet to score a goal. Considering that Weston have also only brought a handful of supporters to either of the two matches I've seen them play at Twerton Park, it is sort of surprising that there is much of a rivalry at all? Why, as City fans, would we bother to concern ourselves with such a mere trifle?

Here is an account taken from the Bath City forum that will explain how the animosity has been kept alive:

When we played away at Weston on Boxing Day, there was a stoppage in play during the first half for an injury. Weston started the game appallingly, offering no threat whatsoever, as per usual. Gurney [the Weston manager] called a few of his players over. One would presume this was to offer some tactical advice, a few words to inspire his team to get back into the game. What did he say? "Get Hogg sent off".

I'm sure that Weston supporters will have swear that this is not so, that really Bath City players are always the provocateurs. Nevertheless, the idea that Weston are a team that play dirty is firmly embedded in the City-supporter collective consciousness. Combine this with City's tendency to struggle against poor opposition, and you had some decidedly nervous home supporters in the terraces of Twerton Park. Could City dispel the ghost of Fisher Athletic?

Once inside I decided to go watch Weston warm up. I wandered around to the Bristol Side and struck a non-challant pose. Right away I could see a difference between this team and the one that had lost 3-0 to City the previous February. Their shirts fit. I don't know why, but last year the Weston players were all kitted out like they were wearing hand-me-downs from their older, fatter brothers. It would have been comical, except their performance on the pitch was more comical, and eventually you stopped noticing the XXL sportswear. At least there is some progress for manager Andy Gurney to point to.

Watching the opposition warm up isn't actually very interesting. I was hoping to hear the Weston players discussing tactics to get various City players sent off, but to give them their due they just stuck to their warm-up routine. They couldn't even manage to be good villains (yet). I wandered back round to the Popular side to gossip with my fellow fans until the match started.

The consensus among my fellow gossipers was that although we'd love to see Weston get a 5-0 thumping, a 1-0, squeaky-bum victory would do. Several people pointed out that although Weston rarely win a match, they rarely lose by more than a couple goals. Three points, however it comes, would do nicely.

As the match was kicking off I realised there were more people to gossip with than normal on a Tuesday night. The attendance was eventually announced as 545, which is in fact the highest mid-week attendance of the season. Even the Woking match, following three days after over three thousand people had come to Twerton Park for an FA Cup match, had only been watched by 434 brave souls. Those brave souls had been very quiet souls as well. Tuesday matches are noted for being supported in a very relaxed fashion. The informal but growing group of Bath City 'Ultras' had turned out in force, however. Gathered round their giant Bath City white ensign, they began singing with more passion than has been heard midweek at Twerton Park for many years. There is a sense that momentum is building on the pitch when Bath City play. I'm proud to say, there is also a sense that momentum is building in the terraces amongst the supporters.

Part two can be read here.