Bath City (0) 0 Eastbourne Borough (0) 0 – Saturday 1 March 2025 – Vanarama National League South – Twerton Park
Match Report by Mark Stillman.
Bath City began March as they began February – a goalless draw against a top seven side.
Chances were at a premium at Twerton Park as neither goalkeeper was significantly tested.
Another organised defensive display saw the Romans claim a 12th clean sheet this season, making it 29 between them and opponents Eastbourne Borough in the league.
While a 15th failure to net in the league puts City as the lowest scorers in the division, a richly deserved point to keep them nine points clear of the bottom four will be Darren Way’s preferred statistic of note.
From the early stages it was obvious that Eastbourne’s display would resemble Truro’s down in Cornwall a month previous – a sheer reliance on long throws, causing lengthy stoppages while Pierce Bird’s often unworrying deliveries were hurled towards the penalty area.
City nearly broke the deadlock on six minutes. Brad Ash and Mitch Beardmore combined to tee up Luke Russe, whose goalbound shot was headed away by Camron Gbadebo with Joe Wright beaten.
A nasty accidental clash of heads between Brad Barry and Ash caused a lengthy delay in a half with little flow, including another stoppage as Kai Innocent’s hammering clearance hit a spectator, with manager Way and medical staff straight on the scene with the supporter unharmed.
The closest Eastbourne came to scoring was on 38 minutes. George Alexander headed into the chest of Courtney Clarke, wide of the penalty area.
With no viable options, he attempted to catch out Harvey Wiles-Richards at his near post, forcing the startled goalkeeper to eventually juggle away before Innocent could react.
Borough made a double change at the break, withdrawing the battered Barry and Jason Adigun for Moussa Diarra and Michael Klass.
The giant Diarra nearly forced a mistake from Wiles-Richards from a long throw before it was scrambled away.
Scott Wilson, on his 150th appearance, nearly marked the milestone with a 10th of the season.
Ash laid off for Kieran Parselle, whose first time delivery from the left was brilliantly controlled by Wilson, before his swivel and shot trickled agonisingly wide.
Eastbourne’s next opportunity saw Bird’s corner bobble along the byline before it was played back to Yahya Bamba, whose powerful strike was unwittingly blocked by teammate Ollie Kensdale.
The excellent Ash weaved into space on the right as his resulting cross wasn’t well claimed by former City stopper Wright, who did enough to prevent Ollie Tomlinson on the follow up.
A quick counter on 89 minutes resulted in the hosts’ best opportunity of the second half. Ash and Russe linked up to set Elliott Frear away on the left.
His first involvement after coming on saw him intelligently play it across to fellow substitute Jordan Alves, who shot too close to Wright, enabling a comfortable save low to his left.
David Sesay headed over for the Sports as neither side could find a breakthrough, as City played out their first home goalless draw since New Year’s Day 2024, while Eastbourne recorded their sixth in 18 league games.
Att: 1275
City’s Line-Up: Wiles-Richards, Raynes, Batten, Parselle (c), Wilson (Fisher 64), Clark (Alves 78), Tillson, Russe, Tomlinson, Beardmore (Frear 88), Ash. Subs not used: Nwabueze, Horsell.
Scorers: City – none; Eastbourne – none
City Bookings: Ash (85)
Officials: S Swan, A McAnoy, N D’arcy, C Peters (4th)