Concord Rangers Match Preview
City’s last two Saturday away matches take them to Essex and first up on Saturday is a visit to Canvey Island to take on Concord Rangers.
The Beach Boys currently lie in 16th position having been in the play-off positions for the first third of the season.
They were the visitors to Twerton on Community Day back in November and were rather flattered by a narrow 2-1 defeat courtesy of a late Cody Cooke winner.
Just seven days later they suffered the anguish of a 5-0 home defeat to Totton in the FA Trophy which hinted at a tough remainder to the season.
True enough their form has been inconsistent as indicated by a run of four defeats in five matches at the start of the year.
Dorking and Dartford are amongst the seven teams who have suffered defeat at Thames Road but clean sheets have only been kept in four home fixtures, with heavy defeats by both Hungerford and Maidstone.
Concord and City have shared the same opponents and the same results in their last two fixtures, both losing 2-0 at Eastbourne while drawing at home to Dulwich, which suggests that Saturday’s meeting could be very close.
We have been regular visitors to Concord since the first fixture in 2014 and have recorded five victories in the eight league matches played.
The most memorable came six seasons ago when Andy Watkins, Chas Hemmings, Axel Andresson and Shawn McCoulsky all found the net in a thumping 5-0 win.
City’s last visit was far less enjoyable. Forced to travel east on a Tuesday in December 2020, the kick off was delayed for an hour as the team coach was held up on the M25.
Despite taking the lead from Tom Smith, the Beach Boys secured a 3-2 win with a stoppage time winner to leave the team in bottom place and a very late arrival back home.
While there are a few picturesque grounds in this league it would be fair to say that the Aspect Arena is not one of them!
Situated on Canvey Island, it is hemmed in between a caravan park, oil storage depots and the River Thames. It must be one of the few grounds where huge ships sail just yards behind the goal!
The 170 mile drive from Bath will take around 4 hours while the train journey from Bath Spa involves changes at Paddington and Liverpool Street and then a three mile bus trip to the ground from Benfleet station.
Admission prices and further details can be found at the Concord website.
And remember that if you can’t get to the match you can listen to full commentary provided by Bath City Internet Radio.
