Conway double fires City to first win of league campaign
Another Tommy Conway double earned Bath City their first league win of the season.
The 18-year-old netted twice from close range for the second Saturday running to help overcome Billericay Town, who failed to take advantage of large periods of possession in the opening half hour.
Conway’s first was from City’s first meaningful attack, and his second in added time clinched victory after the Romans had wasted other openings on the break.
Both goals were provided by Freddie Hinds, who has followed Conway on loan from Bristol City.
“Tommy and I have had a few games this pre-season alongside each other.” said Hinds, who was previously at Bath City in 2019.
“As you can see he’s a very good player. We worked well, we were on a similar wavelength. I’m sure it’ll be a duo that works well throughout the season.”
City improved as the match went on and a resolute defensive display helped clinch their first clean sheet of the season.
“We were defending a bit but not really around our goal,” said Hinds.
“We were quite comfortable letting them have the ball and going long. It was a horrible game at times but we dealt with it well. It was my first 90 for a while but I felt fine afterwards.”
Hinds’ last match for City was in the 2019 play-off eliminator defeat to Wealdstone. Eleven of the 16 that day have since moved on but the Potton-born forward still felt a positive vibe at Twerton.
“It’s been a nice welcome back and a good way to start,” he said. “Everyone’s been just as welcoming as they were before, it’s made it easy to settle in. It’s good for me to be out playing men’s football and be back around some familiar faces. It wasn’t a difficult decision to rejoin. As soon as Jerry gave me a call I knew it would be a good move to come back and play a decent amount of games. I know I’ll enjoy it.”
Jerry Gill was pleased with Hinds’ impact.
“I thought he was terrific for us today.” said the City chief. “He loved playing for us last time and that’s why he’s back, which is credit to us as a football club.
“I kept asking if he was ok because he hasn’t played much football for months, but he was willing to work hard for the team which is great.”
Assessing the overall performance, Gill said: “I thought we managed the game really well. We didn’t start at the tempo we normally
RESULTS, Saturday: Bath City 2 v Billericay Tn 0, Chelmsford City 1 v Oxford City 1, Chippenham Tn 1 v Braintree Tn 0, Concord Rgrs 1 v St Albans City 1, Dorking Wdrs 3 v Slough Tn 1, Ebbsfleet Utd 1 v Dulwich Hamlet 1, Hampton & Richmond Boro 0 v Dartford 0, Havant & Waterlooville 2 v Maidstone Utd 2, Hemel Hempstead Tn 1 v Eastbourne Boro 4, Tonbridge Angels 0 v Hungerford Tn2. do, the first 20 minutes were a bit edgy.
“As soon as we scored the goal there was an air of confidence around the team. Near the end we should have scored a couple more with the width we had. Billericay had some good spells of possession without really hurting us. We’ve come away with a good, deserved three points to get us off the mark.” bath city: Clarke; Leak, Ball, Batten (Pope 76); Evans, Richards (James 84), Harley, Smith, Grant (Watts 66); Hinds, Conway. Subs not used: W Henry, Bahadur. billericay town: D-C Henry; R Henry, Knight, Chambers; Felix (Olusanya 70), Sutherland, Reason (Reid 58), Loft, Mclean; Fenelon (Robinson 84), Hutchinson.
Subs not used: Konchesky, Soares-junior.
Star man: Tommy Conway referee: Dale Wootton