Hampton & Richmond Borough (2) 4 Bath City (0) 0 – Tuesday 25 January 2022 – Vanarama National League South – Cleo Saul Beveree Stadium
Match Report by Mark Stillman.
City’s defensive frailties came back to haunt them on Tuesday night as Hampton & Richmond took full advantage at the Cleo Saul Beveree.
Dean Inman nodded home two Kyran Farrell corners in the first half before Tyrell Miller-Rodney and Zach Robinson heaped further misery after substitute Tom Richards was sent off for two yellow cards within 13 minutes of coming on.
Cody Cooke and Jordan Dyer had missed two glorious openings for the Romans in the second half before Richards’ red, before the Beavers took advantage being a man up.
Only Welling United have conceded more than City’s 45 this season as they conceded three or more for the ninth time this season.
Such defensive worries weren’t prevalent early on as the backline coped well against Hampton’s lively front three, with debutant Callum Rowe looking assured.
Deadfield was prevented by Kadji for a corner, and from the resulting set-piece Farrell’s driven delivery was met by Inman’s stooping header from six yards to open the scoring.
The left-back’s corners were causing chaos for City’s defence as three minutes later a similar delivery bypassed a packed six-yard box and just missed Inman.
He made no mistake on 43 minutes. Once again a Farrell corner was too much for the defence and this time Inman sneaked in at the far post to plant another header past Ryan Clarke. The centre-back hadn’t scored for just shy of two years until his gifted brace in the space of 22 minutes.
David Fisher nearly made it three a minute later when his thumping drive from 20 yards cannoned off the post to safety.
City started the second half well and could have halved the deficit on 56 minutes when Elliott Frear’s driven ball found Cooke but he flashed his shot wide from 10 yards.
The visitors missed another wonderful opening to pull one back when Frear’s driven corner was flicked by Ben Seymour to Dyer at the far post, who contrived to hit the underside of the bar from two yards.
Before this Richards had replaced Kadji on 55 minutes and received his first yellow five minutes later for a high challenge on Deadfield.
His brief involvement was ended on 68 when he hauled Fisher back on halfway giving referee Jonathan Maskrey little choice but to dismiss the midfielder and make City’s bid for a comeback all but impossible.
The points were secured on 73 minutes when Barzey won the ball in midfield and a fortunate deflection saw it fall for Miller-Rodney. With the defence appealing in desperation for offside the midfielder darted forward to coolly roll past the wrong-footed Clarke.
An offside prevented a fourth when Zach Dronfield’s thunderbolt cannoned off the bar, Barzey hit the follow-up against the goalframe before Robinson headed home but the assistant’s flag cut short celebrations.
Seymour was denied on the line by Inman in Bath’s bid for a consolation but instead the final goal arrived for the hosts.
A hopeful ball forward saw Robinson capitalise on hesitation from Dyer and Delaney to swivel into space and neatly roll home from 12 yards and clinch the Beavers’ biggest win over City.
Att: 369
City’s Line-Up: Clarke (c), Raynes, Delaney, Fletcher, Cooke, Smith, Frear, Seymour, Rowe, Dyer, Kadji (Richards 55). Subs not used: Fuller, Ball, Batten, Sims-Burgess.
Scorers: City – none; Hampton – Inman (22, 43), Miller-Rodney (73), Robinson (84)
City Bookings: Richards (60)
City Dismissals: Richards (69)
Officials: J Maskrey, A Mathieson, S Rea