Chippenham Town (0) 0 Bath City (1) – Thursday 26 December 2024 – Vanarama National League South – Hardenhuish Park
Match Report by Mark Stillman.
Darren Way’s reign at Bath City got off to a dream start with a derby day win at Chippenham Town.
Scott Wilson scored his 50th goal for the club as City recorded a second successive 3-0 win, with Brad Ash also on target on debut.
Wilson’s second sealed victory within the hour, much to the delight of a hefty travelling support.
An eighth game unbeaten at the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium saw the Romans’ 2024 end on a high.
Chippenham started the brighter with Harry Parsons skewing wide after good with by Caine Bradbury.
City’s first opening saw two former Chippenham men link up to good effect. Luke Russe set Ash free down the left, his shot was blocked by Aaron Amadi-Holloway, a former Romans loanee, before fellow ex-City man Luke Spokes was on hand to clear.
The pressure from the visitors increased. Elliott Frear, on his 150th appearance, swung in a free-kick was saw Ollie Tomlinson’s header tipped onto the crossbar and behind by Will Henry, preventing him an opener against his former teammate.
Henry’s joy was shortlived. From Joe Raynes’ resulting corner, Jordan Tillson was needlessly hauled to the ground by Luke Haines and a penalty was awarded.
Having seen his last kick at St Albans saved, Wilson showed courage in stepping up again and perfectly placed into the bottom right corner, just out of Henry’s reach, to give City the lead.
Haines’ frustration boiled over just after as he appeared to stamp on Ash off the ball, with the derby day challenges becoming fiercer.
Jordan Alves, a spectator when the clubs met last season, skipped inside and flashed wide from 25 yards before Ash fired into the side-netting after an initial error by Amadi-Holloway.
The injury prone defender for Chippenham succumbed again at the break and his replacement Jac Poffley nearly made an instant impact. Inside two minutes of the restart, Bath-born Alex Bray’s drove a cross from the right and just missed the youngster at the far post.
He was inches from making it 1-1, and swiftly afterwards it was 2-0.
Alves was played through by Ash, but saw his shot blocked by the sprawling Henry. Chippenham reacted sluggishly to the follow-up allowing Ash to sidefoot home from 15 yards past the floored stopper.
The hosts played themselves into trouble and inadvertently set up an attack to make it three on 57 minutes.
Leone Gravata’s woeful pass in midfield landed straight to Frear. He accepted the gift, finding Alves in space, who in turn picked out Wilson in the box.
Still with work to do, Wilson weaved inside of Haines and Poffley, leaving both on the turf before calmly stroking past Henry.
While Chippenham were clearly stunned, they sought an immediate response down the slope.
From the restart, Bradbury shrugged off Greenslade but was denied by Harvey Wiles-Richards at his near post.
Tom Mehew’s driving run down the left saw him create an opening for Parsons, whose attempted shot across Wiles-Richards was brilliantly fingertipped behind.
Alves shot from distance was comfortably taken by Henry before Spokes shot too close to Wiles-Richards late on, as Gary Horgan’s men looked to give their fans something to cheer about.
It didn’t arrive as they suffered a second successive Boxing Day loss to City, and gave new boss Way a perfect beginning to his tenure.
Att: 1716
City’s Line-Up: Wiles-Richards, Raynes, Greenslade, Parselle (c), Wilson (Anthony 83), Frear, Tillson, Russe, Alves, Tomlinson, Ash (Humphrey-Ewers 90+2). Subs not used: Sardo, Lawrence, Sweeten.
Scorers: City – Wilson (pen 23, 57), Ash (50); Chippenham – none
City Bookings: Tillson (15), Alves (37), Parselle (79), Wilson (83)
Officials: M Jackson, J Welsh, J Osofa, M Gupta (4th)