Bath City (2) 2 Eastbourne Borough (0) 1 – Saturday 22 January 2022 – Vanarama National League South – Twerton Park
Match Report by Mark Stillman.
Alex Fletcher’s double helped depleted Bath City return to winning ways over Eastbourne Borough.
A pair of first half headers was enough for the Romans striker as City were only able to name two substitutes at Twerton Park.
Leone Gravata pulled one back as the Sports threatened a comeback but they failed to build on back-to-back wins in National League South.
The victory pushed City up to 12th in National League South, 12 points clear of relegation and just five off a play-off berth.
Fletcher nearly broke the deadlock on 11 minutes when he flicked Elliott Frear’s cross goalwards but Lee Worgan was able to block at his near post.
The keeper was powerless to deny Fletcher five minutes later when debutant Ben Seymour for the better of Steven James on the byline, dinked a cross which was headed back across by his fellow Devonian Fletcher and just over the line despite Trent Mahorn and Worgan’s best efforts.
Seymour was prevented by Worgan when Dylan Kadji played him through and saw his header from the resulting corner smothered by the visiting stopper.
City’s positive approach reaped its rewards with a second goal on 41 minutes. Frear’s quick short corner gave Cody Cooke time to chip a cross for Fletcher, who superbly lofted his header over Worgan from six yards.
Frear dragged wide after the break before the introduction of Gravata on 56 minutes added more impetus to the Eastbourne attack, which had offered precious little with Charley Kendall kept at bay.
Substitute Gravata pulled one back 12 minutes after his introduction. After linking up well with Kendall and Charlie Walker, the attacker found the bottom coner with a smart strike from 18 yards which crept inside Ryan Clarke’s right post. It also kept up the Sports’ impressive goalscoring record away from home, making it 22 matches in a row on their travels in which they’d scored.
They could have added to their tally. Charlie Walker drove across the face of goal and Gravata headed wastefully wide as the away side finally asked questions of the tiring Bath backline, with Clarke denying Gravata at his near post in the dying stages.
Tom Richards set Cooke away at the other end but he was denied by Worgan who spread himself well.
Despite having Dan Ball and Tom Smith limping through the closing stages City battled on to preserve a welcome victory.
Att: 1001
City’s LIne-Up: Clarke (c), Raynes, Delaney, Fletcher, Cooke, Smith, Frear, Ball, Seymour, Dyer, Kadji (Richards 72). Sub not used: Fuller.
Scorers: City – Fletcher (16, 41); Eastbourne – Gravata (68)
City Bookings: Raynes (74), Frear (90+1)
Officials: W Cartmel, M Glanville, C Peters