Bath City (0) 1 Weymouth (0) 1 – Tuesday 22 October 2024 – Vanarama National League South – Twerton Park
Match Report by Henry Burridge.
Jerry Gill was enthused by the second-half performance from his Bath City side as they took a midweek point against Weymouth.
An evenly matched first half saw both keepers tested, with the visitors also rattling City’s woodwork in what was at times a frenetic period.
But the Romans appeared rejuvenated after the interval and went ahead through Alex Fisher within four minutes of the restart.
And yet despite a solid defensive showing they were denied victory by a poaching header from Christie Ward, who was then sent off for diving with five minutes left.
The only opportunity of a stop-start opening 10 minutes went to the visitors. Euan Pollock was played into space deep on the left-hand side and crossed in for the ever-threatening Jaiden Bartolo, whose header was comfortably held by Romans stopper Harvey Wiles-Richards.
City got their first chance on the quarter-hour mark when Danny Greenslade’s long cross was nodded down by Joe James for Fisher to get a snapshot on the turn, drawing a diving stop from Will Buse in the Weymouth goal.
Fisher worked Buse again with a header from a free-kick shortly after, albeit from too far out to really test the keeper.
It was the visitors that came the closest of either side in the first period as Ward was slipped in behind and rolled his shot onto the post. Bartolo inexplicably slipped as he looked to tap in the rebound, though he was called offside anyway.
The action grew increasingly hectic as the half progressed. Ward was sent in behind again but was beaten to the ball by Wiles-Richards, and was perhaps lucky not to get a yellow card for sliding studs-first into the City keeper’s body.
Pollock had two efforts for Weymouth ahead of the break. The first, a blast at the near post, was turned behind by Wiles-Richards before the Terras wideman blazed over after the resulting corner wasn’t fully cleared.
Gill brought Scott Wilson into the action for the second half and his introduction had an instant impact. The frontman cleverly worked space to lay off a pass for Nick Grimes – switched to right-back just before the break – to hit a driven shot against a Weymouth defender.
City had come back out with a fresh verve, popping passes confidently and finding their way into threatening positions.
Their pressure was rewarded when a deflected Grimes pass looped up for Fisher to spin and volley home for the opener. It wasn’t the cleanest of strikes, but that may have been crucial as Fisher’s effort bounced into the ground and over Buse.
All-action Grimes was seemingly involved in everything. He sent in a threatening cross that a Weymouth defender had to turn behind on the stretch, and then thumped a low free-kick into the hands of Buse.
At the other end the defender then took a risk with a dangerous backpass that a pirouetting Wiles-Richards narrowly managed to get a foot to with Bartolo charging in.
Weymouth boss Mark Molesley made a double substitution on the hour and pushed more players forward in search of a route back into the game.
City defended competently as the away side began to see more of the ball, only for the equaliser to come somewhat out of nowhere.
A long-range effort from Andreas Robinson was parried by Wiles-Richards with Ward diving forward to head past the helpless keeper.
Wilson hooked a difficult effort around the post from another Grimes cross, while Wiles-Richards pushed away a dangerous low cross from substitute Keelan O’Connell.
City’s hopes were boosted with five minutes to go when Terras goalscorer Ward was flashed a second yellow card for a dive, but they were unable to open up any clear-cut chances. An off-target header from Fisher was the best they could muster as Weymouth held on for a point.
Att: 1368
City’s Line-Up: Wiles-Richards, Greenslade, Grimes, Parselle (c), Wanjau-Smith, Frear (Batten 45+2), Fisher, Tillson, James (Wilson HT), Russe, Alves. Subs not used: Raynes, Sardo, Sweeten.
Scorers: City – Fisher (49); Weymouth – Ward (75)
City Bookings: Tillson (30), Russe (65), Parselle (68)
Officials: J Allsopp, Z Demetriades, A McAnoy, M Terry (4th)