27 December 2015

Bath City 0 Truro City 3

Two late first-half goals from Truro left Bath City with a deficit they never looked likely to come back from.
The Cornish side went ahead when Dan Green put the finishing touch on a free-kick that City had failed to adequately deal with.
The second arrived within two minutes as neither Dan Ball nor Steve Phillips took control of a seemingly innocuous long pass to hand Isaac Vassell a tap-in.
 
 
And Ryan Brett notched the third less than a minute into the second half to virtually kill off any hopes of a revival, with Truro even wasting a penalty.
With neither side forcing play in wide areas, the first ten minutes were relatively devoid of goalmouth action, barring a close-range Truro header that Phillips held.
Sekani Simpson's strength allowed him to fight through a challenge and feed Kaid Mohamed, who had wandered narrowly offside, before Truro came back with a shot of their own from Cody Cooke that Phillips dropped sharply to save.
City came agonisingly close to going in front when Frankie Artus floated in a free-kick from the left that Jack Batten headed off the foot of an upright.
Ben Adelsbury charged in for the follow-up, but was kept out by visiting keeper Martin Rice at point-blank range.
Nick McCootie also came close as he stretched for a shot that Rice kept out. Had his touch been better from the initial long ball, he could have been clear in behind.
Truro passed up an excellent chance when Brett headed over a cross from Vassell, who had teased away from Andy Gallinagh, while Cooke would also drill a shot into the side netting from a back-post cross.
The visitors continued to edge possession for much of the half, but failed to create any threatening efforts on the City goal.
However, they would take the lead on 38 minutes. Ball clattered into the back of Cooke, with Brett's subsequent free-kick diverted back towards the right-hand post for Green to turn home.
City had not been outplayed by that point, yet found themselves two-goals behind on the back of a diabolical defensive mix-up.
Ball looked to shepherd a long pass back to Phillips, who came charging out from his line. The keeper slid in, but missed the ball, allowing Vassell to walk it into an unguarded net.
Within a minute of the second half kicking off, City's deficit became three as Truro worked the ball for Brett to drill home.
McCootie squirmed through and had a shot blocked by Rice from a tight angle, with the Truro stopper frustrating him again minutes later as he tipped a low shot past the post.
Those chances aside, the third goal appeared to completely deflate an already withering Romans display.
The visitors did press aggressively, although too many passes still went astray.
Chas Hemmings and Gallinagh were also robbed of the ball to hand Truro a couple of half-chances that went begging.
Even the introduction of former Truro favourite Andy Watkins – one of City's form players until he was left out of the Ebbsfleet win with illness – could not enliven the hosts.
Truro were awarded a penalty with 15 minutes left to run when Simpson barged over substitute Les Afful, only for Shane White to blaze his spot kick into the depths of the Bristol End.
There were a handful of dead-ball opportunities for the Romans, but the best they could muster was a soft overhead kick from Watkins that was caught by Rice and a direct effort from Adelsbury that was pushed wide.

Bath City: Phillips; Simpson, Batten, Ball, Gallinagh; Hemmings, Williams (Pratt HT), Adelsbury; Artus, McCootie (Watkins 64), Mohamed (Bowman 80).
Subs not used: Smith, Coupe.

Truro City: Rice; White, Riley-Lowe, Brett (Dawson 81), Richards, Pugh, Knowles, Green, Wright (Gill 65), Vassell (Afful 72), Cooke.
Subs not used: Ash, Mitchell.

Referee: Savvas Yianni.
Attendance: 801.

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