Gill thrilled to begin year in winning fashion and close gap
Jerry Gill was thrilled with Bath City’s excellent start to 2022.
The Bath City manager oversaw a second double over Chippenham in three seasons with an attendance of 2,261, the biggest between the sides since April 2006, witnessing the Romans’ triumph at Twerton Park.
It maintained Gill’s unbeaten run as City boss in this contest since his first in December 2017.
“No-one can take away that it’s been Bath City’s Christmas and New Year,” said Gill, who was also undefeated in his last nine matches as a City player against long-time arch-rivals Yeovil Town in the 1990s.
“I remember us losing 5-2 here against Chippenham before I came in and that hasn’t happened since. There have been some really positive results, nothing better than beating your local rivals.
“I loved derbies as a player and as a manager I’ve been successful with them here.
“Chippenham are having a great season to date and I have the utmost respect for them.
“We know we aren’t where we want to be in the league but six points over two local derbies is a great start. I thought it was a really professional performance from my group today. They’ve clearly looked after themselves over Christmas and the New Year.
“There were some really strong performances. It looks like a good team.”
An own goal by Will Richards and an Alex Fletcher effort, both in first half stoppage time, gave the Romans an advantage heading into the interval.
“I think we deserved that lead at half-time,” said Gill. I can’t remember Ryan (Clarke) having much to do in the game.
“Both sets of teams were going at it physically but we looked the more dangerous side.
“Chippenham’s away record is fantastic, they’re doing something right. I saw that at Hungerford last Tuesday where they got a deserved 3-0 result.
“Our backline was aggressive, our midfield connected well, the front boys set the tone with their press.
“We went down to ten men over there and our shape was still good. We knew if we kept that we’d be OK.
“I thought the game was really flat second half which I didn’t mind. I didn’t want any drama.”
Gill heaped a lot of praise on his current squad, including a special mention to Jordan Dyer, who was part of the large attendance despite returning to Exeter City, making an appearance as a substitute at Sutton United the previous afternoon in League Two.
“He messaged me last night asking if we could leave him some tickets,” said Gill. “That says a lot – a loan player wanting to support us having gone back to his parent club. That means more than anything to us. It was lovely to see him, I thank him for coming along.
“I want to say congratulations to Omar Holness, who got married on 29 December.
“He said he might not be able to train on the Thursday, I said he was welcome to have the day off. Instead he drove for nearly four hours from Falmouth on the morning which says everything about him.
“Elliott Frear has barely eaten in a week because of illness. He’s lost three kilos in weight but still wanted to sit on the bench for us.
“Callum Wood has put his body on the line. He just loves defending, same as Zak [Delaney].
“Jack [Batten] has come in following his back injury and we were a bit unsure whether he’d be OK. He had to keep mobilised at halftime by walking around the dressing room.
“Joe Raynes was 60-40 against whether he’d be fit because of his thigh. That’s why he came off. Dylan [Kadji] came on and was terrific. He looks like a really good find.
“The team spirit is very good, the attitude all over Christmas has been fantastic. It’s easy to give them days off but we trained. I want to give a special thanks to Peasedown for letting us use their grass surface there.
“We look a resolute group and a threat going forward. We still have Dave Sims-burgess to come back, competition for places is good among the group. We’ll keep working hard.”
The players’ efforts were clearly appreciated by the vocal home support, who have obtained bragging rights over their near neighbours for another season.
“Those two games are for the fans,” Gill highlighted. “The support we took away to Chippenham was phenomenal. I can’t thank our fans enough, 2,200+ here today is amazing.
“Look at the performances of those loan players in particular – you could tell how much it meant to them in front of such a huge crowd.
“It’s time to push on and try and win those games at Chelmsford and Hemel, then making this place a fortress like we know it can be.”