Fans being back was massive, says Fletcher

Few Bath City players make their first two appearances seven months apart, but Alex Fletcher had to endure such a wait.

Signed from Tiverton in January, the forward impressed in a 2-1 win over Havant & Waterlooville, however it proved to be City’s last outing of the curtailed season.

That was the last of Bath’s matches behind closed doors and Fletcher, pictured, welcomed the noise back at Twerton.

“The atmosphere was exactly as we wanted it,” he said, “We gave the fans a bit to cheer about. Having them back is a massive contrast to that wet Tuesday night against Havant for my debut.

“I’ve been dying to get into the real thing. Everyone was bang at it. We couldn’t have asked for much more.”

Saturday saw three players score their first goal for the club in the same game since August 1972 when Paul Gover, John Sydenham and Colin Norman were on target in a 3-1 win over Wealdstone, played in front of the highest opening day crowd at Twerton before Saturday’s figure.

Fletcher notched five in a busy summer schedule and continued his impressive form into the league.

“We’ve put a lot of work into preseason,” he said. “We had nine games and I played nearly every minute.

“The preparation has been brilliant. The minutes have helped everyone, as has keeping mainly the same frontline throughout preseason.

“I know scoring in the 90th minute today didn’t make a huge difference but if we’re in games where it’s a bit tighter and we have that extra fitness to nick it at the end, it’s massive.

“I probably should have scored a couple before that, too.

“Every game in this league is going to be tough. We want to kick on from today – we’ve waited a while to get back into it and want to crack on with the next game.”