Well-beaten opposition left to lick their wounds
Bath City made it back-to-back league wins with a deserved success at play-off chasing Havant & Waterlooville.
Jack Batten’s header put the Romans ahead before Tommy Wright nodded in from close range to level the scores.
Cody Cooke’s thunderous drive from an acute angle put the visitors back in front shortly before halftime and Alex Fletcher’s sweetly struck volley wrapped up the win.
Dave Sims-burgess also made his long-awaited debut as a late substitute for Cooke.
Injury and suspension-hit Havant went into the contest with seven players on the sidelines and manager Paul Doswell, watching from the stand because of a touchline ban, was dealt another headache early on as Josh Passley was replaced by Benny Read on six minutes having come off worse in an aerial challenge with Cooke, leading to a lengthy delay.
The disruption to the backline could be used as an excuse for the manner of the goal conceded by the Hawks on 19 minutes.
Elliott Frear’s free-kick saw Batten easily escape the attention of Jamie Collins to glance home his first away goal in just over three years.
Havant were restricted to efforts from distance with Billy Clifford blazing over and Oscar Gobern’s tidy dipping strike from 30 yards comfortably gathered by Clarke.
They found a leveller on 35 minutes. James Roberts’ cross to the back post was headed across goal by Jake Mccarthy and Wright was perfectly placed to apply the finishing touch from a yard out, following up on his goal against Bath in last season’s FA Cup tie at Twerton Park.
On that occasion City crumbled against a powerful unit, but this time they swatted away the irritation of conceding and pressed for the lead again. Jordan Dyer miscued Joe Raynes’ flick from Frear’s corner, but the Bathonian got his assist just before the signal for six minutes of first half stoppage time.
Having dispossessed Gobern with ease, Raynes spotted the overlapping run of Cooke in the penalty area and the striker stunned Will Mannion with a lethal first time thunderbolt into the roof of the net – his 12th goal of the season.
Roberts got into two decent shooting positions in the second half but his finishing was woeful, blazing wildly over each time much to the chagrin of the home faithful.
Fletcher showed him how it’s done with a more difficult finish. Frear and Mo Touray linked up for a short corner before Frear’s delivery was only half-cleared by Gobern. It landed right on the boot of Fletcher who volleyed low inside Mannion’s left post from 18 yards.
Clifford warmed Clarke’s gloves with an arrowed drive which the captain could only parry to Wright, but the onrushing forward spooned the loose ball over.
Leading scorer Mccarthy twisted into space on the edge of the box before forcing Clarke to tip around his right post before the same Havant man headed Read’s cross narrowly wide.
But City stood firm and dealt with a series of crosses well from the hosts, ending their six-match unbeaten run in the process.
“I thought it was a great away performance,” said Jerry Gill afterwards. “The environment has changed over the last few weeks. People are buoyant, enjoying their football with smiles on their faces.
“We have some young players who are getting better every time they play, alongside Jack Batten who is a leader in it.
“Callum Wood in the back three was exceptional, he’s going to be some player. Zak (Delaney) is learning every week – he loves competing and defending, which is what you want.
“I could go through them all. I think we have more solidity in the middle of the pitch with Jordan (Dyer) and Joe (Raynes) too. It helps us keeping the same line-up for three games running.”
City scored three in a league game for only the third time this season, and Gill was delighted with the manner of them, two from setpieces.
“We look dangerous now from them,” said Gill. “The third one came off really well from our corner routine.
“We’ve changed certain aspects of our set-pieces. There’s so much detail into them on the training ground, it’s no coincidence we’re getting first contact on them now.
“The overall performance is more pleasing than anything else. This is a tough place to come and we’ve been the better side against a top six club. We deserved the three points and to score the three goals.”