Bath City 0 Staines Town 1

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Saturday 2nd February 2013 (3pm) – Blue Square Bet Football Conference (South)

BATH CITY (0) 0  STAINES TOWN (0) 1

The hosts had gone to great lengths to attract fans of the two Bristol Football League clubs to pack the Mayday Trust Park, and were rewarded by an excellent crowd of 1073 fans, but the majority would have gone home disappointed that the locals were unable to heap further pain on Marcus Gayle’s Staines side.  The Swans knew that if they are to escape relegation they would need a significant points haul from their dwindling number of remaining fixtures, and so it was a huge relief that they were able to turn their upper hand in this match into a valuable victory.  Starring in the line-up on this biting cold afternoon were the two newest additions, both of whom were making their first starts in the side.  Tyrone Marsh, who joined from Oxford United on loan until the end of the season, looked very lively up front, while Ashley Lodge gave a performance of consummate maturity in midfield, and ran Marsh close for both the “Massive” and NLP Man of the Match awards.  The two players moved to the bench to accommodate them were Tony Garrod and Scott Taylor, whilst it was also good to see Gayle involving two of the Academy players recently signed on Conference forms – Qaseem Sotonwa and Eri Felix – to manage the kit and equipment in Roy Lewis’s absence.  The pitch was in good condition, but as Staines attacked the left hand (as viewed from the main stand) they were assisted by the slope in the first half, but buffeted by an icy north wind.  

Staines made their ambition clear from the outset, and early on, Jason Mellor in the bath goal, had to save with his legs after a fine ball into Marsh.  The same player sent an 11th min volley over the top following positive running on the right and a cross from Jack Mills.  Thrusting forward again from a Lodge tackle, Wheeler put Marsh in a promising position, only to be halted by a tight offside decision.  Next it was Troy Ferguson’s turn to try to open his account for the Club, but his snap shot was gobbled up by Mellor.  Finally Bath began to get settled, but Jack Turner was able to make a comfortable save when Mark Preece got up well to head Marc Canham’s corner goalwards, and on 23 minutes a dangerous run by Josh Low was halted by a perfectly timed Jordaan Brown tackle.  But soon Staines regained the initiative, with Marsh having two bites at a chance only for the hosts to escape at the cost of only a corner, then Wheeler wriggled free and forced Mellor into a diving save, and finally – following a corner – Louis-Rae Beadle saw a close range effort blocked by a defender on the line, somehow diverting it over for another corner.  Bath then suffered an injury to Low, who had to be subbed, and at the same time Mellor seemed to sustain some kind of injury which led him to seek help from an outfielder to take some of his goal kicks during the remainder of the game.  Bath remained dangerous on their sporadic breaks, though, and it took a superb headed clearance by Sam Page to prevent a crossfield ball reaching Charlie Griffin in space.  Mellor seemed to show no ill effects when stopping a powerful Mills volley as the ball returned to the other end, and then Marsh seemed to have put Staines ahead when receiving Beadle’s cut-back and firing beyond Mellor, only for a defender to again block it on the line.  There was still time for Mellor to save two more efforts by the lively Marsh before the break, the first being a lofted shot following a clever chipped pass by Lodge, and the second being a shot that was arrowing towards the near corner.  There were two added minutes, during which Bath mounted a breakaway through Chris Allen, whose shot was diverted for a corner.

Following a half time interval in which the crowd was entertained by a mini-match between Bath’s U13 sides, the “gentle slope” of the first half seemed to transform for a while into a mountainside as Staines tried to contain a lively – but brief – spell of Bath dominance.  They introduced débutant Elliott Chamberlain, and forced a long string of corners, one of which was powerfully headed towards goal by Canham, who was denied by a goal line clearance by the knee of the alert Lewis Ferrell.  On 56 minutes, a clever ball through to Adam Connolly seemed certain to be converted, but he fired wide of the target.  In between, Beadle had delayed a Staines shot while waiting in vain for support, but before long the visitors slotted back into their first half groove and a neat 59th minute move ended with Marsh fizzing a shot inches wide.  They were very unlucky again 2 mins later, when a super ball into the 6 yard box by Mills struck Wheeler on the knee, and the ball rebounded between the far post and Marsh’s outstretched leg.  Beadle went close again before the first of three bookings of a game that was played in excellent spirit both on the field and on the packed terraces.  All three went to Bath players, Ball (rash tackle on Ferguson, 74 mins), Connolly (78 mins, foul), and Morgan (trip, 86 mins).  Beadle was again denied when Preece got in a vital tackle as he lined up his shot from 12 yards, and straight after that second caution, he was withdrawn for Taylor after a fine display.  Staines hearts were in mouths when two subs combined for City, Chamberlain winning the ball and feeding Kerry Morgan, but he spooned the chance over the bar in the 82nd min.  Mellor made a great save in the 85th to palm away a Wheeler drive, following good approach work by Marsh an Taylor.  Time seemed to be running out for Staines, for whom an away point at a big city club might have been seen as a success, were it not for their perilous league position, but they finally got the breakthrough in the 88th minute that raised the spirits immeasurably.  Wheeler showed great tenacity on the left side, winning the ball that seemed to belong to the full back, and advancing to the edge of the 18 yard box, from where he sent over a low cross.  Defender Gethin Jones got a touch, but was wrong-footed and could not prevent it from reaching Tyrone Marsh.  The 19 year old had probably not played 90 minutes for some time, but kept his composure to trap the ball, and then slam it into the top corner giving Mellor no chance.  During the added three minutes, Bath’s one chance to level went by the board when its engineer, Chamberlain, fired over, and Ferrell ended the game sporting the Swans’ captain’s armband following the late switch of Garrod for Wheeler.  

It was perhaps telling that the Bath sponsors, Footballers Reunited / Terry Helps, gave their Man of the Match award to ‘keeper Mellor, whilst Marsh collected the NLP and Staines equivalents.  Swans thus leap from 20th to 13th, while in this severely congested table, Bath slip from 14th to 18th.

Staines: Turner, Mills, J Brown, Ferrell, Page, Ifil, Wheeler © (Garrod 90+2), Ferguson, Marsh, Beadle (Taylor 79+), Lodge; unused Merson (g), Drage, Worsfold.

Bath: Mellor, Simpson, Ball, Jones ©, Preece, M Canham, Connolly, Burnell, Griffin (Chamberlain 53), Allen (A Brown 69), Low (Morgan 34); unused Walker, Keates.

Ref: Mark Pottage (Gillingham, Dorset); ARs Ben Cobb (Upton, near Poole); Martin Bloor (New Milton, Hants); att 1073.

The Romans website details the game as follows ... Tyrone Marsh struck two minutes from time as struggling Staines Town inflicted defeat on a lacklustre Bath City. Marcus Gayle’s side arrived at Mayday Trust Park with the worst defensive record in Blue Square Bet South but the hosts never really tested Staines, who rightfully left with all three points to leapfrog the Romans in the table after shading a dour contest. Meanwhile, the future of City boss Lee Howells is unclear, with the first-team coach having lengthy conversations with chairman Manda Rigby and director of football Adie Britton and unwilling to speak to the media following the defeat. With no league fixtures taking place in Bristol, the contest was billed as Pack the Park, with fans of both Bristol City and Rovers invited to Mayday Trust Park. The impressive crowd of more than 1,000 will leave disappointed, though, as the on-field action failed to match their enthusiasm.

Home goalkeeper Jason Mellor was the standout performer in an uninspiring first 45 minutes, with the City stopper making several good saves to keep Staines at bay. Marsh was thwarted by the sprawling Mellor’s legs, with the Bath number one also getting down well to keep out Jerel Ifil’s shot from the edge of the box. Louis-Rae Beadle fired high and wide after a good cross from visiting skipper David Wheeler, while it took City 20 minutes to test Staines keeper Jack Turner, although a fairly routine save was all that was needed to stop Mark Preece’s header. Marsh and Wheeler saw further efforts denied by Mellor, with the introduction of Kerry Morgan after 35 minutes finally adding some impetus to the home side’s play. Josh Low limped off with a hamstring problem and Morgan looked lively straight away, picking out Chris Allen with a good cross in first-half stoppage time, which was only kept out by a desperate Jordan Brown block.

City’s best chances came early in the second half, with Preece seeing a header from Mark Canham’s corner cleared off the line, while Adam Connolly shot wide when well placed. Debutant Elliott Chamberlain helped on Morgan’s pass but Connolly failed to hit the target when challenged by the on-rushing Turner. Morgan then fired over the top after a good jinking run from Chamberlain before Staines regained control in the closing stages. When Mellor pulled off a stunning one-handed save from Wheeler with five minutes to play the game looked destined to end goalless but Marsh finally found a way past the City stopper soon afterwards. Staines caught the hosts on the counter, with Wheeler racing up the left and crossing into the box. Although Gethin Jones was able to get his body in the way, the ball fell kindly to Marsh, who made no mistake from ten yards.