Bath City (1) 2 Dorking Wanderers (0) 2 – Saturday 12 April 2025 – Vanarama National League South – Twerton Park
Match Report by Henry Burridge.
A chaotic close saw Bath City claim a point against title-chasing Dorking Wanderers thanks to an equaliser in the 12th minute of stoppage time.
Wanderers had put on a second-stanza comeback with goals from Jimmy Muitt and Alfie Rutherford, cancelling out Brad Ash’s first-half opener for City.
But the game changed when Dorking’s Josh Taylor was controversially shown a second yellow for time-wasting on 83 minutes.
The incident sparked a slew of bookings and squabbles on and off the pitch as the referee attempted to regain order, ultimately playing a part in 12 minutes of added time.
And the Romans struck in the last of those through Jordan Tillson to secure a fully merited point at Twerton Park.
Before the frantic finale came a frenetic opening. In only the second minute Rutherford got the better of both City centre-backs and hammered a shot flush off the face of the crossbar.
The visitors followed up with a tearing run from Muitt, whose dangerous cutback for Jordan Norville-Williams was cut out by Tillson’s toe.
Gradually City began to settle with their first threat coming from Mitch Beardmore’s right-sided corner, a skidding delivery to the near post that had Wanderers scrambling.
They grabbed the lead on 20 minutes when Ewan Clark dinked the ball over the Dorking defence for Ash to spin away and deftly lob keeper Harrison Foulkes.
Clark and Tillson both fired wide as the Romans looked to press their advantage.
The travelling side created little in response besides a scuffed effort from Jason Prior that was comfortably collected by Harvey Wiles-Richards.
City did, however, have to deal with a bombardment of long throws from Taylor, generally doing so admirably.
Bath almost doubled their lead from a long throw of their own just before the break. Joe Raynes’ hurl was flicked on for Scott Wilson to power a header over the bar from around eight yards.
Ash was the first to threaten in the second period with a shot that was deflected behind, but Dorking would storm back into the game.
A double change and formation switch was the key for Wanderers, who got back on terms when Taylor played substitute Matthew Briggs to the byline, his cutback slapped into the bottom corner by Muitt.
The Romans had to scramble to block another Muitt effort, but the resulting long throw saw the visitors grab their second goal.
City could only clear the delivery to Muitt at the edge of the box and although his effort was charged down, it fell for Rutherford to rifle past a rooted Wiles-Richards.
Romans boss Darren Way made a quadruple substitution to find a route back into the game, but Ash remained the ever-present threat and drew a sharp diving save from Foulkes.
Dorking had a couple of half chances to extend their lead with Brennan Camp’s stooping back-post header saved by Wiles-Richards and a Taylor effort blocked following a good run.
The defining drama began in the 83rd minute when the referee demanded Taylor retreat to take a throw in front of the City bench. But the official’s tiring patience broke when Taylor waited for a teammate to trot over to take the throw instead, and the visiting midfielder was flashed a second yellow.
Vociferous arguments from Taylor and the Dorking dugout took an age to quell as the referee lost control of proceedings, resulting in a spree of further bookings.
Cue 12 minutes of injury time.
There was confusion when Romans skipper Kieran Parselle found the net after Foulkes dropped the ball under pressure, the game eventually restarting with a Dorking free-kick while half the ground was still celebrating what it thought was an equaliser.
Eventually the crowd did get to erupt at the goal City merited. Raynes got his head to a corner first, with Tillson jabbing in to score for the second game running and snatch the draw.
Att:1727
City’s Line-Up: Wiles-Richards, Raynes, Greenslade (Batten 66), Parselle (c), Wilson (Fisher 66), Clark (Alves 66), Tillson, Russe, Tomlinson, Beardmore (Frear 66), Ash. Sub not used: Nwabueze.
Scorers: City – Ash (20), Tillson (90+11); Dorking – Muitt (53), Rutherford (63)
City Bookings: Ash (85)
Officials: N Pratt, T Green, N Templey, T Holden (4th)
