Next Match – Boreham Wood (H)
Bath City’s fourth successive home game is this Saturday against National League opposition.
Boreham Wood arrive at Twerton Park for an FA Trophy tie and will be hoping to rediscover some form. Having finished in the play-offs in three of the last six seasons, Luke Garrard’s men have struggled so far this term and currently find themselves 18th with nearly exactly half their campaign played. Last Saturday’s match at Oldham was postponed, giving them an unexpected fortnight break before their trip to Twerton.
While 27 scored is lower than three of the current bottom four, Wood have only failed to net in one of their last 17 in all competitions, that in a 2-0 loss at home to runaway leaders Chesterfield. Defensively they’ve had issues on the road, conceding 20 in 11 matches, contributing to only two league wins away from Meadow Park. Their FA Cup form in recent years has been stunning, capped in their round five outing at Everton in 2022, but a first round 5-1 loss at divisional rivals Eastleigh ended this year’s journey. Remarkably it was the third year running they’d been paired at that stage.
They failed to win in the FA Trophy last year, losing at this stage to Southend United. City made it to round three by defeating Beaconsfield Town thanks to Scott Wilson’s goal on the stroke of half-time. Wilson was also on target last year when City came from 2-0 down to draw with then-holders Bromley before defeating them on penalties. He already has 14 goals this term and 30 for 2023.
These two sides met six times between the 12/13 and 14/15 seasons. The first two meetings were forgettable goalless draws before Andy Watkins’ winner at Meadow Park in November 2013 separated the sides. Strangely the return fixture was a week later, a re-arranged game nearly 10 years ago to this day. Mario Noto gave the Whites a 45th minute lead from the spot but Watkins found time to level before the break. Mark Preece headed City ahead just after half-time and after Joe Burnell was dismissed, Karl Brown notched an added time leveller for Wood. The next season saw Boreham Wood gain promotion despite losing both contests to the Romans – Dave Pratt and Ross Stearn netted in a 2-1 win at Meadow Park with Ben Adelsbury’s double enough in the Stripes’ final game of 2014, signing off with a 2-0 victory.
A quaint stat about this game is it’s the fifth tie running where Bath City have been drawn out against another side beginning with a B – Billericay, Bromley, Bracknell and Beaconsfield the previous four.
Tickets are available here with discounts before 23.45pm on Friday, otherwise it’s an all-pay fixture, season tickets not applicable.
Come along and see if the Romans can cause an upset and continue their road to Wembley!
