PREVIEW: Bath City (A) – Tuesday 13th September – 19:45
By Robert Santonna
It was a difficult result to analyse last Saturday. On the one hand, we were massively dominant, and they didn’t really have hope in winning. But that’s all well and good if you can put some goals in at the other end. I don’t think the red card actually helped us! The second that happened I got the feeling they were then there to get a point. But credit to the lads, we broke down a tough defensive mindset constantly. We had the chances to score, yet the game finishes 0-0. I think this really has been the story of the season so far. At times, make good teams look bang average and are the better side, yet we often come out of the games with nothing.
Hopefully we can get some more vital points on the board as we face Bath City. They sit in a playoff position and have put some big scores up this season, winning 5-1 against Slough and 4-3 against Eastbourne. This will be another big game, three points will see us level on points with teams as high as 19th. This is the reason I remain positive. We are only a few wins away from looking in a comfortable position. But we need to get that first win on the board and that will give everyone a huge boost.
As I’m sure you are aware, the Dulwich game was postponed on Saturday due to the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Today is a perfect opportunity to pay respects to her after Saturday’s postponement. The players will wear black armbands and observe a minute’s silence before the game.
@TerraStatman’s Facts of the Match
“For Weymouth fans under the age of 40, a tussle with Bath City will not be seen as a notable fixture but traditionally the Twerton Park based outfit were massive and regular “perhaps not quite near enough to be called a local derby” rivals for The Terras. So much so that over our 132 year history we have only played two clubs on more occasions, Yeovil and Poole Town.
We have faced Bath City or their reserves a whopping 187 times over the years amounting to almost 3% of all our games. Our record against the Somerset team is W62 D48 L77, the very high proportion of draws showing how tightly fought many matches were. However the Black & Whites have proven difficult to beat over the years at their venerable ground, a patchwork quilt of stands and seating, as we have only amassed 20 victories there with 23 draws and the 47 losses, our most recent win in 2003 courtest of goals from Lee Phillips and Steve Tully.
In recent times we have not won in five in all games against former Weymouth manager Jerry Gill’s men with three losses followed by two draws in our last Conference South season in 2019/20. Our first meeting that season was just our first home game of the campaign. The Terras scored as early as the 5th minute when a Harfield cross was poked into the onion bag by a Bath player but the visitors replied in the second half to share the spoils. The return match on 7th March 2020 was a bit of a surreal affair with rumours of the first Covid lockdown in the air and perhaps this atmosphere had an impact on the game in a rather uneventful bore draw.
In terms of personnel that have featured for both teams, firstly we have the aforementioned Bath manager Jerry Gill who as well as playing for City for six years from 2000 also endured 44 days as Weymouth manager in 2010 during one of our financial crises. In terms of purely players, there has been a virtual conveyer belt travelling between the clubs over the years either directly or indirectly along the A354/A37/A367 including legends such as Jason Matthews, Johnny Hannigan, Trevor Finnigan & Lee Phillips. The most recent notable example is probably Cody Cooke who never quite got into his scoring groove for Weymouth in the Conference National but has certainly found his feet a division lower in the spa city.”
So, as we prepare for another clash in the National League South, we must remain positive and back the lads in whatever capacity capable. I’m sure we will be there in numbers as we so often are on away days.
Up The Terras!
