Bath City (0) 0 Sevenoaks Town (1) 1 – Saturday 1 October 2022 – FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round – Twerton Park
Match Report by Mark Stillman.
Jordy Ndozid’s first-half strike confined Bath City to an embarrassing FA Cup exit against Step 4 Sevenoaks Town.
The Isthmian Division One South East side sat 57 places below the Romans in the pyramid and were playing their first ever match in the 3rd Qualifying Round, which proved to be one they’ll never forget.
To add to City’s misery, top-scorer Cody Cooke was forced off with a nasty head injury which saw a 10-hour stay at the RUH for stitches to be added.
Even with him on the field City were surprisingly toothless as they lost at home to a side two levels below them in this competition for a miserable fifth time in 14 years.
After a fairly even opening, the visitors had the first clear opportunity of the afternoon when Kyle De Silva’s through ball found Yahaya Bamba but The Oaks’ striker was thwarted by the feet of Joe Wright. However, the Romans’ respite was short lived as seven minutes before the interval Ndozid picked the ball up on the edge of the area before drilling into the bottom corner to give the Kent outfit the lead.
A double change at half-time saw City come out for the second half with greater impetus with Scott Wilson denied by Tyler McCarthy just three minutes after the interval before he was thwarted by a block from Oluwadamio Olorunnisomo after a goalmouth scramble on the hour mark. However, the hosts were dealt a blow midway through the second period when Cooke was forced off with a head injury after a collision with goalscorer Ndozid.
Despite that, the Romans kept pushing for a late leveller, but Matthew Weaire and Corey Holder held firm at the centre of the Sevenoaks defence to help them into the 4th Qualifying Round for the first time in their history and send their players and fans into raptures.
Att: 1004
City’s LIne-Up: Wright, Dyer, Batten, Parselle (c), Fletcher, Hayfield, Cooke (Mannings 66), Frear (Smith HT), Lines (Spokes HT), Wilson, Morton. Sub not used: Clarke.
Scorers: City – none; Sevenoaks – Ndozid (38)
City Bookings: Parselle (73)
Officials: O Mackay, L Mansfield-King, J Tewson