Bath City (0) 0 Frome Town (2) 2 – Tuesday 17 December 2024 – Somerset Premier Cup 2nd Round – Twerton Park
Match Report by Mark Stillman.
A makeshift Bath City side exited the Somerset Premier Cup against lower league Frome Town.
Goals from Curtis Hutson and James Ollis just before half-time clinched a deserved success for the Robins, ending a run of four successive losses against the Romans.
Lee Kendall used the match to integrate academy players, with six of them on the field at full-time.
Alex Fisher hobbled off with a hamstring injury early to add further misery for City.
Fisher could have opened the scoring inside eight minutes, but he failed to get enough on Elliott Frear’s driven ball from the left.
His next involvement was his last as Jack Batten’s ball over the top was well brought down by the unmarked striker, who lined up to shoot but collapsed in agony with a hamstring injury and was replaced by Jordan Alves.
Kieran Parselle tested Seb Tylek with a low drive from 30 yards but the keeper batted it away.
Frome stayed in the game and improved towards the end of the half. Massimo Sardo easily gathered Rex Mannings’ effort from distance but didn’t cover himself in glory for the opener.
Ethan Vaughan’s corner from the left bounced past a crowded six yard box, hit the inside of the post and Hutson applied the final touch almost on the line.
A second goal followed three minutes later. Batten’s pass forward was intercepted by Mannings, who threaded through to Ollis. Despite being forced wide of goal, he found the angle to leather past Sardo at his near post.
City squandered the chance to halve the deficit when Owen Pritchard scampered clear but unselfishly tried to square for Frear, allowing Vaughan to clear.
Batten was replaced by Dan Greenslade at the break, but it didn’t tighten the hosts’ defence immediately. Ollis’ glancing header landed on the roof of the net and Joe Budd capitalised on sluggishness in the home backline, eventually seeing his shot across goal blocked by the legs of Sardo.
Frear’s pull-back from the byline was just behind Alves, who recovered to find space but he and Jerry Lawrence’s efforts were comfortably blocked by a packed defence.
Jenson Wakefield and Emmanouil Athanasiou were brought on for their debuts as first teamers Frear and Parselle were sacrificed with focus shifting to Saturday’s meeting with Aveley.
Wakefield went down in the box under pressure from Matt Wood but referee Adam Wilson ignored claims for a penalty.
Micah Anthony’s cross deflected kindly for Pritchard, but he shot too close to Tylek from just inside the area.
Frome nearly rubber-stamped the win in the final few minutes when the impressive Ollis pulled back to Archie Ferris, but he shot wide via a slight touch off Jordan Tillson.
Louis Sweeten, back from a lengthy ban, bent too close to Tylek as a consolation didn’t arrive for Frome to clinch their first win over City since 2008.
Att: 465
City’s Line-Up: Sardo, Humphrey-Ewers (Tillson 55), Pritchard, Mabika, Batten (Greenslade HT), Parselle (c) (Athanasiou 73), Sweeten, Lawrence, Fisher (Alves 17), Anthony, Frear (Wakefield 69).
Scorers: City – none; Frome – Hutson (35), Ollis (38)
City Bookings: Athanasiou (80)
Referee: Adam Wilson