Bath City (0) 0 Hornchurch (0) 2 – Saturday 8 February 2025 – Vanarama National League South – Twerton Park
Match Report by Mark Stillman.
Ten-man Bath City lost at home for the first time under Darren Way.
Two excellent Darren McQueen finishes after the break earned Hornchurch their first win of 2025.
Substitute Jordan Alves saw red for Bath City for an off-the-ball incident in between McQueen’s goals.
Jordan Tillson also picked up his 10th league booking of the season, ruling him out of St Albans home and Maidstone United away later this month.
There was a feeling it wouldn’t be City’s day inside 10 minutes.
The recalled Alex Fisher went up for a header with Nathan Cooper and came off worse, forcing his early withdrawal with Scott Wilson on far earlier than anticipated.
The substitute was involved in a close shave for Hornchurch when Joe Raynes’ shot deflected kindly for Wilson, who hammered across goal and hit the unwitting Brad Ash before the visitors cleared.
Tom Wraight threw himself in the way of a Kieran Parselle goalbound effort as Way’s side regrouped well to the early setback.
Visiting keeper Mason Terry dived full length to bat away Ewan Clark’s curler which appeared to be drifting wide, this after a tremendous clearance from Harvey Wiles-Richards in the home goal.
Will Greenidge showed good tenacity striding forward from the back for Hornchurch, escaping two challenges before bending just wide via a deflection.
The Urchins lost Bailey Clements to injury and his replacement Giles Phillips was swiftly robbed by Raynes to present an opening for Wilson, but off-balance he ballooned miles over under pressure from Wraight.
Raynes was cynically clattered into by Phillips which earned a yellow card and forced further additional time, eventually totalling nine minutes in an elongated first half.
The full-back was eventually forced off after a couple more knocks, and the disruption to the backline possibly contributed to City falling behind.
Charlee Adams headed a stray clearance back into the area, Angelo Balanta flicked on and McQueen took a touch before superbly acrobatically finishing across Wiles-Richards from 12 yards.
City’s task was made harder on 75 minutes when they were reduced to 10 men.
Alves was dispossessed in the penalty area by Wraight and continued his argument with the visiting midfielder, before petulantly kicking out and earning a straight red card just 20 minutes after coming on.
Terry smartly tipped Kieran Parselle’s header over after Clark’s cross from a short corner picked him out.
The Romans continued to probe despite being a man down but a couple of changes for Hornchurch proved vital late on.
Charlie Pegrum, off the bench for his debut, saw his piledriver gloved behind by Wiles-Richards, and the resulting set-piece led to a clinching second.
Following a short corner, substitute Sean Scannell managed to squeeze the ball back to McQueen, who again volleyed home in mid-air to secure Daryl McMahon’s side a first win in nine.
Att: 1139
City’s Line-Up: Wiles-Richards, Raynes (Alves 55), Greenslade, Parselle (c), Clark, Frear (Nwabueze 70), Fisher (Wilson 9), Tillson, Russe, Tomlinson, Ash (Beardmore 70). Sub not used: Batten.
Scorers: City – none; Hornchurch – McQueen (57, 90+2)
City Bookings: Tillson (63), Parselle (83), Greenslade (84)
City Dismissal: Alves (75)
Officials: T Ellsmore, J Welsh, T Holden, C Hubbard (4th)