Bath City 3
Hinds 9’, Straker 82’ pen, Brunt 86’
Torquay United 2
Hall 43′, Reid 65’
United suffered a 3-2 defeat to Bath City in a tumultuous game at Twerton Park. Two late goals from the Romans turned the tide after United looked the more likely to secure another three points.
Gary Johnson named an unchanged starting XI with Opi Edwards and Jean-Yves Koue Niate taking places on the bench.
Both sides took a little time to get going, but once the match hit its stride it was compulsive viewing.
United created the first clear-cut chance. Saikou Janneh made inroads on United’s left and cut it back to Kalvin Lumbombo-Kalala, unfortunately he didn’t set himself to make the most of the chance and put his effort over the bar.
Bath took the lead in the 9th minute. United failed to clear a ball in from the wing. Freddie Hinds had too much time to shoot from around 20 yards out. It was a decent effort that Shaun MacDonald had little chance of keeping out. United were caught napping.
United were struggling a little to get going against Bath’s 3-5-2 formation. They needed to quicken their pace of thought and movement. Where Bath saw options on the ball United looked a little stiff and ponderous.
United did start to arrest Bath’s momentum with around ten minutes of the 1st half left.
Lemonheigh-Evans was next to create something. His ball into the box allowed Janneh a chance to get a shot away. He did, but was quickly closed down by two Bath City defenders.
Ben Wynter did well down the right side to feed Janneh. His ball across the box was just diverted past Jamie Reid by Kevin Amankwaah. United were on the front foot and were soon looking like themselves again.
Asa Hall was the man to get United back on terms. His towering header in the 43rd minute from Jake Andrews’ corner was just what they needed. For the last couple of minutes United looked like adding a second and promised to push Bath City more in the second half than they had in the first.
However, it was Bath City that took the game back to United in the early minutes of the second half. They didn’t create a clear opportunity on goal, but it did mean that United had to go again.
Jake Andrews nearly scored directly from a corner in the 55th minute. The game was once again swinging United’s way.
Saikou Janneh created something out of nothing not soon after when he turned his man. Unfortunately, his finish let him down from an acute angle.
United were applying more and more pressure and it told in the 65th minute. Jamie Reid put United 2-1 up reacting quickest from a corner.
In the 74th minute Jake Andrews received the ball back inside the box and was tripped. The referee pointed to the spot. Andrews grabbed the ball and sent his penalty over the bar. United’s miss was everything Bath required to find a second wind.
Bath City were awarded a penalty of their own in the 82nd minute. Asa Hall was adjudged to have fouled substitute Ryan Brunt. Up stepped Anthony Straker to stroke the ball into the bottom corner.
Bath City scored their third in the 87th minute. Ryan Brunt met a knee-high cross from Straker with an outstretched boot to guide the ball past MacDonald.
United pushed for an equaliser in what had become a cauldron of noise. United’s last opportunity was created by Shaun MacDonald. MacDonald went up for a late corner and the ball found him. He chested the ball down and sent a powerful shot back across goal. Unfortunately, Saikou Janneh could not direct his touch on target. It was United’s final chance of the game.
Bath City: 1 Ryan Clarke, 2 Kevin Amankwaah [19 Tom Smith 46’], 3 Anthony Straker ©, 5 Jack Batten, 6 Frankie Artus, 8 Sean Rigg, 9 Freddie Hinds [10 Ryan Brunt 76’], 11 Ross Stearn [67’ 7 Andy Watkins], 15 Robbie Cundy, 16 Joe Raynes, 20 Leon Davies SUBS NOT USED: 12 Dan Ball, 13. Harvey Wiles-Richards
Booked: Hinds 37’
TUFC: 1 Shaun MacDonald, 2 Ben Wynter, 3 Liam Davis, 6 Jamie Sendles-White, 8 Asa Hall ©, 10 Saikou Janneh, 11 Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, 17 Kyle Cameron, 18 Jake Andrews [12 Opi Edwards 76’], 19 Jamie Reid, 20 Kalvin Lumbombo-Kalala [Ruairi Keating 55’] SUBS NOT USED: 13 George Burton, 15 Jean-Yves Koue Niate, 16 Ryan Dickson
Booked: Davis 31’, Sendles-White 40’, Jamie Reid 84’, Keating
Attendance: 3,426 (1,426 Away)
Referee: Lewis Smith