Bath City vs Weymouth
National League South, Twerton Park, Friday 29 March, 15.00 GMT
We travel to the West Country today, to face promotion-challengers Bath City, who sit just one point behind seventh-place St Albans City.
Today’s game will be watched by interim-boss Jason Matthews, as we head into the game following an impressive 4-1 win against Havant & Waterlooville.
The Romans look to get their league form back on track having only won ONCE in their previous seven games. Their current position of 10th is a far cry from when they sat in fourth place last time they faced us.
Jerry Gill’s side will take comfort from the fact that their last two results against us have both resulted in victories, including a 5-1 hammering at the Bob Lucas Stadium in November last year.
However, since our humiliating loss, we’ve had quite the turnaround in form, picking up 32 points, including EIGHT league wins, putting us 14th in the table.
HOW TO FOLLOW…
Today’s 3pm kick-off will be broadcast HERE online. Viewers can sign up and pay a total of £10 to view the game
Live audio commentary will be available HERE, on our official radio website.
You can follow the action via our social media channels. Footage and exclusive reaction will also be uploaded online after the final whistle.
THE OPPOSITION…
Currently sitting in 10th-place, just one point behind St Albans City, who are in the play-off places, The Romans prepare to host us with the hope of promotion in sight.
Remaining in the National League South since the start of the 2012/13 season, Bath City aim to return to the fifth-tier of English football for the first time in 12 years.
One of the more successful semi-professional clubs, the Somerset outfit have reached the third round of the FA Cup six times, beating sides such as Crystal Palace (1931), Millwall (1959) and Cardiff City (1992).
While they have also been crowned champions of the Southern League twice, in 1960 and 1978, more recent success for them has been hard to come by, finding themselves relegated to the seventh tier for the first time in 2004.
This season, Gill’s side appear on course for a stronger finish than their previous campaign; having finished 11th last season, with 67 points, they need just two more wins in their remaining seven games to end this campaign with a higher total.
Their start to the season was particularly spectacular, picking up an impressive 20 points in their opening nine games.
Since then, their form has somewhat stagnated, earning 42 points in their 20 contests so far.
Bath would, however, currently be in the play-offs if teams only played at home; with 11 wins in 20 games, only six sides can top that.
To add to their impressive form at Twerton Park, they are also the sixth-highest goalscorers on their own patch, with 35 goals.
They are, though, yet to face the mighty Terras in Somerset this season, who boast only 20 goals conceded on the road, alongside two clean sheets in our last four…
PREVIOUS RESULTS…
Having played 191 games against Bath, including their reserves, there are not many teams we have faced more in our history.
The hosts have come out on top on a slightly more regular basis, with their 80 wins compared to our 63.
Adding to this statistic, only ONE out of our previous NINE contests against The Romans have given us three points, a 1-0 victory last season to help us towards our Great Escape.
We have also already lost twice to today’s opponents, this season, the most recent being a 5-1 hammering at the Bob Lucas Stadium.
There are however, some notable positives, one of them being that Tom Bearwish loves facing Gill’s side, either scoring or assisting the last three times they have faced us.
We are also unbeaten in THREE out of our last FOUR games on Good Friday!
Perhaps we can continue our Easter luck today…
Preview by
Jack Webb
