Next Match – Maidstone United (A)

With last Saturday’s match at Slough Town abandoned after 70 minutes following a medical emergency in the crowd, City take to the road again this Tuesday, this time to Maidstone United for a massive play-off six-pointer.

The Stones will still be riding on the high of their remarkable FA Cup run this season. They lost 5-0 at Coventry in the fifth round last Monday, but their run has been a great advert for the National League South and an inspiration not just to themselves but to all the clubs in the league.

They returned to league action with a 1-0 win at struggling Dover Athletic on Saturday, Jephte Tanga’s first goal for the club settling the Kent derby late in the first half after Sam Corne had blazed a penalty over. That result lifted them back up into eighth place in the league, level on points with Hampton & Richmond, St Albans and Bath City above them, and with two games in hand on St Albans.

They had lost 2-0 in the league at Aveley on the Monday night before their trip to Coventry, but prior to that had gone six games without defeat in all competitions – a run that included that historic 2-1 win at Ipswich Town in the fourth round of the FA Cup, as well as a 2-1 home win over league leaders Yeovil Town in the NLS.

This will be City’s first visit to the Gallagher Stadium since February 2022 when Maidstone won this fixture 2-1, Elliott Frear’s late strike a mere consolation. That made it six points from six for the Stones over the Romans for the campaign as they had already beaten Bath 3-0 at Twerton Park in September en route to their title-winning year.

Last August, in City’s first home game of the current season, the tables were turned when the Romans convincingly won 3-0 thanks to two first half goals from Jordan Thomas and a late third from Tom Smith. With Saturday’s game at Slough Town abandoned, if Smith features in Kent it’ll be his 250th outing for Bath City. The Romans have lost just three away league games this term and will be hoping to maintain that impressive form for this long Tuesday trip.

There will be no supporters coach to Kent, but if you can’t make it to the match you can, as always, follow all the action live on Bath City Radio.