Bath City (0)1 Cheshunt (0)0

[Kelston Koppite]

Bath City were made to work hard to gain victory over a stubborn Cheshunt side, and it took a Cody Cooke penalty kick fifteen minutes from time to eventually break the deadlock and earn his side the points.

The home team began proceedings playing towards the Bristol End and Cooke brought a tumbling save from Cheshunt keeper Joseph Rose in the 2nd minute. Shortly afterwards, the visitors were appealing for a penalty when Guiseppe Re’s effort appeared to strike Jacob Jones’ arm, but the referee, Mr. Dale Wootton, waved away the protests.

Re produced a volley in the 8th minute from the edge of City’s area that flew wide of Joe Wright’s goalframe and, at the other end, Joe Raynes’ cross from wide out right just eluded Alex Fletcher’s outstretched leg at the far post.

Perhaps Bath’s best opening of the half occurred on 12 minutes when Luke Spokes worked himself some space inside the Cheshunt box but, with the goal at his mercy, he directed his shot wide of the target. Chris Lines then put Cooke through on goal with a deft pass, but the forward sliced his effort wide from a good position.

It was City who remained in the ascendancy without looking particularly fluid in their play, and they continued to create openings in the away defence. Cooke found himself with another sight of goal in the 21st minute, but was foiled by the advancing Rose, and Spokes’ shot from 25 yards was so wayward that it sailed over the perimeter wall at the rear of the Bristol End terracing and disappeared into deepest Twerton.

Mohamed Camara headed over Wright’s crossbar following a corner from the right in the 27th minute, but this was a rare threat to the home goal.

Before the half time break Fletcher’s low angled drive from the left was held by Rose at the foot of his near post.

The commencement of the second period saw City move forward with greater urgency. Cooke put Fletcher through in the 49th minute, but the latter shot wide of the near post. Four minutes later, Raynes’ cross from the right picked out Lines beyond the far post, but the midfielder skied his effort well over the bar.

As time wore on, the hosts were finding it increasingly difficult to break down the Cheshunt defence, and the Hertfordshire side visibly gained in confidence without ever unduly troubling Wright’s goal. Scott Wilson made way for Elliott Frear after 63 minutes as Jerry Gill tried to inject more cutting edge to his side’s attack.

Dan Hayfield curled a shot wide of the far post on 68 minutes, but the breakthrough finally arrived 15 minutes from time. Fletcher nipped in to dispossess Taylor McKenzie inside the box and was tripped by the startled defender. The referee pointed to the spot, and Cooke confidently found the bottom corner of the net from 12 yards.

The Ambers, curiously sporting a sky-blue kit, tried to find a way back into the game but found the home defence in parsimonious mood. Indeed, with five minutes left on the clock, Fletcher was just too high with a lob that landed on the roof of Rose’s net after he had been released by a clever Cooke flick. The only scare for the home faithful was a Luke Warner-Eley freekick into the City box in the 87th minute that picked out Camara, but the midfielder was unable to direct his effort on target.

There was still time for Hayfield to shoot wide from 20 yards, and for Fletcher to fire well over the crossbar from distance before Mr. Wootton blew the final whistle.

Whilst this was a frustrating afternoon for City, there is no doubt that they deserved the three points in front of another impressive attendance of 1,153. They created sufficient chances in the first half to make this a comfortable victory but, having failed to drive home their advantage, had to settle for their single strike from the penalty spot. Cheshunt defended stoutly throughout and pushed forward when the chance presented itself but rarely threated to trouble the scoreboard with Wright being a virtual spectator. The Romans will now look to build on their healthy league position when they make the trip to Havant and Waterlooville on Wednesday evening.

Bath City: Joe Wright, Joe Raynes, Jack Batten, Kieran Parselle, Jacob Jones, Dan Hayfield, Chris Lines, Luke Spokes, Scott Wilson (Elliott Frear 63 mins), Alex Fletcher, Cody Cooke. Subs not Used: Ryan Clarke, Tom Smith, Rex Mannings, James Morton.

Cheshunt: Joseph Rose, Fraser Alexander, Luke Warner-Eley, Mohamed Camara, Taylor McKenzie, Lewis Hobbs, Reece Beckles-Richards, Guiseppe Re, Chris Harris, Ken Charles, Isaac Newton. Subs: Raul Dasilva, Brandon Adams, Dajon Golding, Enock Ekongo, Emmanuel Martins.

Referee: Mr. Dale Wootton.

Attendance: 1,153

[Luton Roman]

Looking at the highlights City's shots: shots on target ratio was not great, and Spokes and Hayfield must start scoring to take some pressure of the front two.