Dominant Bath only get a point
Festive fixtures throw up a draw and defeat for Romans
Jerry Gill claimed Hungerford didn’t deserve to beat Bath City in each team’s final match of 2020.
The Crusaders had lost their three previous contests at Twerton Park by an aggregate of 11-2 but Danny Robinson’s men have been the division’s surprise package, moving up to third on 25 points, just three shy of what they collected in 33 matches last season when they were bottom before the season’s enforced finish.
Bath recorded 74 per cent possession at Chippenham on Boxing Day and enjoyed a lot of the ball against the Berkshire outfit on Monday, but have scored just once from both matches.
“I know that people will look at the scoreline and say Hungerford deserve to win the game – they don’t,” said Gill.
“They’re a good side and got their goals on merit – when they were 2-0 up they kept a low block and very good shape – but we’ve had so much possession.
“We’ve dominated and are really frustrated, as we were after Chippenham.
“We haven’t quite been clinical enough or have that little bit of quality. We tried everything we could to get back in the game today.
“It wasn’t going to be our day, we just couldn’t score a goal.”
Gill felt his side had two key decisions go against them with Tom Smith’s finish chalked off by assistant Stacey Ford for offside, and a first half penalty appeal turned down when goalkeeper Luke Cairney slid into Tommy Conway just inside the area.
“There’s definitely contact,” he said. “The linesman on our side was telling me he couldn’t make a decision until the referee does. I don’t understand that.
“We scored a fantastic goal from our corner routine. I knew Ryan Harley was onside because he delayed his run, he always does.
“We work on it and you’ve seen it work for us before. The linesperson had lots of bodies in the way to make that decision.
“I also don’t think the referee handled them wasting time very well, he could have got into them a bit earlier.”
City altered to a 3-5-2 formation at the interval to match Hungerford, withdrawing captain Frankie Artus for centre-back Dan Ball.
“There was phase after phase, attack after attack going down the slope,” said Gill, commenting on City’s second half display.
“I wanted to get the wing-backs really high and have two up top with Tom Smith in a number ten role.
“I thought they did a fantastic job with that. When you change your shape at half-time you never know how it’ll work, but we dominated the game in that spell.
“But Hungerford defended well and you have to give credit to them.”
The City chief explained that his bid to bolster his attacking options have been dented recently with Football League clubs unwilling to loan out players and other sides not keen to negotiate because of the uncertainty surrounding nonleague football at present.
He confirmed Will Dean has returned to Exeter City following his loan spell, and that Callum Evans is not close to returning having missed six weeks with a hamstring injury and being in isolation.
Tom Richards, Lucas Tomlinson and Joe Raynes were also in selfisolation with the latter still not close to a return following a serious ankle injury picked up last March against Weymouth.
“The unfortunate thing is we have Donovan missing for three games,” he said, commenting on the striker’s ban for his red card at Chippenham. “That’ll leave us more threadbare in attack.
“I can’t appeal it. The FA might increase it to four games instead of three, I’ve spoken to a referee who said that by Donovan raising his boot they might say it’s dangerous play.
“It’s difficult having so many out but every manager has the same issues up and down the country.”
City were unbeaten in four before Monday’s loss, suffering one defeat in six after a six-match losing streak between October and November.
“In terms of performance levels, we’re in a much better place than where we were six weeks ago,” said Gill. “It looks more like a Bath City team.
“We’re disappointed we’ve lost today but we could have got more with a bit of luck.
“We’ve been on the road a lot in the last few games, playing the most away games in our league.
“We don’t want games being called off. I’m concerned at how the league is going to look, it’s so disjointed with teams playing more than others. You’d normally know how the leagues are levelling out by now.
“Turning up at football matches is our little escape now. We’ll prepare like every game is on and will try and train Wednesday ahead of a very tough game against Chippenham.”