Romans hoping for better after 2019’s cup KO

Bath City will continue their Somerset Premier Cup journey on Tuesday, 15 February, at Welton Rovers (KO 7.30pm).

The quarter finals has landed the Romans with a tie at the home of the Toolstation Division One club, who knocked City out in 2019.

Bath originally won their second round tie at West Clewes 3-1, but were forced to replay it due to fielding an ineligible player. City’s Tom Smith opened the scoring in the rearranged tie before Aaron Sevior bundled home an 89th minute leveller just seconds after coming on as a substitute.

That took the tie to penalties and the usually reliable Ryan Brunt was the only player to miss, skying his penalty over in a 5-4 loss, City’s first to a Western League Division One side in the competition since 1992.

This year, City have seen off Western League opponents in Clevedon Town (3-2) and Portishead Town (3-0) to earn this tie at West Clewes. Welton received a bye in round one before a 2-1 win at Brislington in November.

Welton boss Tom Smith saw his side soar out of the blocks this season as they embarked on a 20-match unbeaten run in the league. A Covid outbreak over Christmas contributed to a month without a fixture with a sevenmatch winless run stretching for two months.

That came to an end on Tuesday in a dramatic win over Odd Down. Welton led 2-0 at the break through Will Gould and a Saracen Yates own goal, but a smart Caelan Simpson finish and Curtis Dunn freekick from fully 45 yards stunned the home faithful. Gould snatched a second on 89 minutes to deliver three welcome points.

The contest in two weeks will be the 47th between the clubs, with all bar the last seven taking place prior to WWII. The most stand-out recent meeting saw Bath win 8-1 at Twerton Park in 2018 with Antoine Semenyo, now starring at Bristol City, netting a hat-trick.