Next Match – Truro City (A)
This Tuesday league leaders* City make the trip down to Devon to face an improving Truro.
The Cornish side, playing some 70 miles away in Plymouth, are proving their worth in the NLS following promotion via the play-offs, unbeaten in three following wins over Eastbourne and Farnborough and a goalless draw at Hemel. Andrew ‘Rocky’ Neal has added punch in attack, scoring in his first four with five goals overall while fellow front man Tyler Harvey, who had three spells with City, has returned from injury and squeezed in a quickfire brace against Farnborough last week. Quintet James Pardington, Connor Riley-Lowe, Ben Adelsbury, Will Dean and Dan Rooney have all played for Bath. Adelsbury hobbled off on Saturday so could be a doubt for Tuesday.
For most of their history, Truro remained members of the South Western League, made up of mostly Cornish teams, until a string of promotions in the late 2000s-early 2010s landed them in the Conference South. During this period they played the Romans for the first time, falling to a 1-0 defeat at Treyew Road in an FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round clash. Chris Holland’s early header was enough, Truro’s Kevin Wills also dragged a first half penalty wide for the-then FA Vase holders.
That match saw City fans introduced to Truro front man Andy Watkins. ‘Watto’ was a long-time transfer target of Adie Britton and finally arrived in the summer of 2013. In seven years he made 254 appearances and scored 56 goals – his 45 in National League South is the highest for a Bath City player.
Goalscoring hasn’t been an issue for Jerry Gill’s side this term. The manager oversaw his 50th home league win at the weekend and for the tenth game in succession, City scored more than one goal – their best sequence since 1961-1962. The result put the Romans top of the league for the first time in four years. There were further milestones as Dan Greenslade made his 50th league appearance – he had a brief spell at Truro at the end of 2014 on loan. Cody Cooke is the more notable former Truro man in Bath’s ranks, he led the line for the White Tigers for six years which included netting against City in August 2017.
The last time the Romans played a competitive game against the Tinners was in March 2019. A whopping 1400 City fans attended Twerton Park that day, which ended 1-1 when Anthony Straker’s early penalty was cancelled out by Harvey. The previous contest, played at a near empty Plainmoor, recorded the same scoreline and scorers. The last three meetings have been drawn.
The City players would love to see some travelling support to carry on their incredible form, so we hope to see a lot of you there!
Who – Truro City vs Bath City
When – Tuesday 5th September, 7:45pm
Where – Bolitho Park, Plymouth
*depending on the result in tonight’s Chelmsford v Hampton match.
