Match Report

Team Bath 3 Clevedon Town 1

The injury time hoodoo hit Clevedon Town again last night as they surrendered a hard fought point in injury time to Team Bath on a cold, windy night at Twerton Park. Just as in the previous league match against Halesowen, they finished the 90 minutes hanging on to a point, having fought and scrapped their way back into a game they initially looked like losing heavily, only to see that point snatched away from them at the death. If I was being brutally honest the home side probably deserved all three points over the 90 minutes but the Seasiders never stopped working and put their hosts under real pressure for much of the second half without really forcing the home keeper to make that many saves. When you’re struggling for points though, and things aren’t going your way, fate has a nasty habit of stabbing you in the back just when you need that bit of help.

The game stared with Kris Witcombe returning to the side after injury and Matt Rawlins up alongside Jack Pitcher, with Craig Davidge returning to his Twerton Park roots, much to the delight of the Bath City fans scattered amongst the big open spaces on the terraces. You could almost visualise tumbleweed blowing around the ground as the sparse crowd of 145 spectators somehow epitomised the apparent lack of interest amongst Team Bath’s meagre following. On the field however, there was no such apathy from the Team Bath players and they tore into Clevedon from the start, using the wind and slope to launch numerous attacks down the flanks, getting behind the visitors defence several times in the opening 20 minutes. In that time they hit the bar, blazed shots over from close range and had a couple blocked on the line but somehow they failed to breach Clevedon’s defence and, as Clevedon finally settled, those attacks eased off and allowed Clevedon to move play away from their own penalty area.

It was 19 minutes before Clevedon were able to launch a genuine attack when Jack Pitcher went close with a clever lob over Darren Chitty in the home goal. Scott Hendy then had to block a shot on the line in a Team Bath break but Clevedon had weathered the early storm and were now forcing Team Bath into playing longer, more hopeful balls forward instead of the slick passing and movement game that had exposed the visitors so effectively in the game’s early stages. The last real action of the first half was a screaming long range effort by Rob Scott that the keeper managed to scramble away from the predatory Jack Pitcher and it finished with Clevedon somehow going in level and looking more and more confident.

The second half started in sensational fashion with Clevedon surprisingly snatching the lead through Scott Hendy. A long kick from Danny Greaves, aided by an ever strengthening wind, was missed by a defender and Matt Rawlins’ shot was pushed away for a corner, taken by Andy Gurney. His cross was sliced back to him by a home defender and his second attempt was glanced home on the near post by the superb Scott Hendy for his second goal of the season, and Clevedon’s 50th of the campaign. Sadly for the travelling fans though the lead was short lived as 5 minutes later Marc Canham picked up a loose ball outside the penalty area and rifled home a quite unstoppable shot high into the net to bring the scores level. This seemed to inspire Clevedon as much as the hosts and they started pushing men forward and putting pressure on the home defence which looked decidedly shaky at times. The midfield battle was being won by Clevedon’s “never say die” attitude and they fought like tigers to thwart the speedy breaks of the home side, unquestionably fitter but unable to break Clevedon’s spirit. Substitute Hanin Romhdane epitomised that spirit with his work-rate and tacking and it was he who came closest to scoring when his great run and shot was beaten away by Chitty in the home goal.

The ninety minutes were up and the Clevedon fans were beginning to celebrate their hard fought point when tragedy struck in injury time. Team Bath sent in a near post corner and somehow the ball was put in the net through a melee of players by Sean Canham, although it was hard to say just what happened from behind the other goal. Our first thoughts were that Danny Greaves had been pushed and put the ball in his own net, but that sadly was not the case and the stark reality was that, after working so hard to secure a vital point against the odds, all that work was to be in vain. A minute later a penalty was awarded for a push just inside the penalty area and the same Sean Canham who had broken Clevedon’s hearts moments earlier slammed the ball home to make the final score 3-1 to the hosts and leave the Clevedon contingent stunned. They can take much consolation though from the spirit and hard work put in by the players and if that attitude is maintained, and Lady Luck finally smiles down on the team, we can secure another season in the Premier Division.

Team Sheet

No:	Name:	Sub:	Goal:
1	Greaves
2	Witcombe
3	Trought
4	Bater
5	Hendy		1
6	Clark
7	Davidge
8	Gurney
9	Pitcher
10	Rawlins
11	Scott (Capt)
12	Page	10
14	Haines	7
15	Romhdane	4
16	Jacobs
17	O'Connor
Own Goal	-

Match Details

Date:	12/02/07
Competition:	British Gas Business Southern League Premier Division
Opponents:	Team Bath
Venue:	Team Bath Twerton Park Twerton Bath BA2 1DB
Half Time:	0 - 0
Full Time:	1 - 3
Attendance:	145
Match Report:	Steve Small
Photographs:	-
Notes:

Downloads

Appearances & Goal Scorers	Word Document
Team Sheet Matrix	Excel Document