Devilment missing from side as injuries take toll on squad
Elliott Romain’s first half strike was enough to separate Hemel Hempstead and Bath City on Tuesday night.
The on-loan forward made it two goals in two games for his temporary club, shooting through Josh Gould’s legs when Dominic Morgan-griffiths’ cross was glanced into his path by Josh Castiglione.
Elliott Frear hit the bar in the second half and substitute Tom Smith had a goal disallowed for offside as the Romans enjoyed enough possession after the break.
But they failed to score for a second successive away game, leaving them three without a win in National League South.
Jerry Gill was without five regulars for the trip to Hertfordshire with Jordan Dyer suspended, Cody Cooke, Alex Fletcher and Joe Raynes injured plus Chris Lines only making up the numbers on the bench, which also included academy full-back Ben Ford.
Scott Wilson dashed away inside five minutes from a Rex Mannings flick but delayed to shoot and was crowded out, before Frear’s followup was deflected wide by Kyle Ajayi.
Castiglione’s hanging free-kick nudged towards goal by Andrew Eleftheriou but Dan Hayfield was on hand to clear from near the line to avert any panic.
Hemel grew in confidence as half-time approached and their pressure was rewarded with an opener on 38 minutes.
Morgan-griffiths’ right wing cross took the slightest touch off Castiglione to Romain, who appeared to control with an arm before driving under Gould from six yards.
Mannings squandered a chance to equalise before the break when Gould’s free-kick was nodded into his path by Callum Ebanks, but the recalled midfielder shot too close to David Saunders who denied him with his legs.
The Romans’ best chance of the night arrived five minutes after the restart.
Ebanks shrugged off Ajayi from Jack Batten’s free-kick from deep and unselfishly pulled back to Frear. The winger tee himself up but volleyed against the bar with only Saunders to beat before the hosts eventually scrambled clear.
City’s defence dealt well with the lively Brooklyn Illunga to prevent many scares on their goal as Dan Greenslade coped admirably against the wideman’s speed and trickery, one of his crosses evading Gianni Crichlow who arrived late on the scene.
Morton’s goalbound effort was blocked by the well-placed Jack Westbrook before two tight calls went in the Tudors’ favour to incense Gill’s side.
Morgan-griffiths appeared to unintentionally graze the ball with his studs when feigning to take a free-kick which Ebanks dashed on to, but referee Aaron Farmer pulled play back to claim he hadn’t connected.
Smith’s tidy finish from a tight angle was adjudged offside, the ball falling to him after Wilson’s curler was well gloved away by Saunders.
Despite sending Batten into attack for the closing stages no more clear openings fell to the visitors, consigning them to a frustrating defeat, their third in a row at Vauxhall Road.
“We deserved something from the game, we deserved to win it if I’m being honest,” said Gill afterwards.
“You have to give Hemel credit though because they hung in there.
“The word I’m going to use is devilment at both ends. It’s something which has become a habit over the last two games.
“This isn’t a lack of effort. They’re having a good go, there were lots of final third entries. It’s not like we’re not creating – we just haven’t got the devilment to finish them off.
“When you’re missing players like Cody Cooke and Alex Fletcher, who stay so calm, it makes a huge difference.”
Gill was only able to name four substitutes but will have Dyer available for Saturday’s trip to Dartford and is hopeful Raynes will return from an injury sustained in Friday’s draw with Welling.
The weekend match has been brought forward to 12.30pm to allow players and supporters to return in time to watch England’s World Cup Quarter-final match with France at 7pm.
“I used to love 12.30 kick-offs,” said Gill.
“You’re up on a Saturday anyway, waiting around a long time.
“Generally they’re good atmospheres as well. We look forward to it.
“Joe said on the way up that his injury has settled down quite nicely. We worried that going on 3G tonight might have caused a few issues so we were reluctant to play him.
“We have to pick ourselves up. It’s two games which have got away from us. I was frustrated Friday night and I’m going to be even more on the coach home now.”
Goals from Emily Bristow, Koren Jones and Annie Hervey secured three points for Bath City Women in their final home fixture of 2022.
City started on the front foot and were rewarded with a 10th minute opener.
Chelsea Giles capitalised on a loose clearance and intelligently slipped the ball through to Bristow, who slammed home from 15 yards.
The winger’s afternoon turned sour five minutes later when she injured her ankle innocuously, which resulted in a trip to the RUH and X-ray for further examination.
Wells equalised on 20 minutes. Lucy Pitman started the move with a clever turn on halfway, her ball forward flicked off the heel of Chelsea Butcher towards Caitlin Skinner, but stand-in keeper Paige Owen appeared to have the danger sussed having dashed off her line. Unfortunately the ball squirmed through her grasp and Skinner was given the simplest of tap-ins from 10 yards.
Jade Whale was desperately unlucky to see her thunderous drive crash against the underside of the bar, but she played a part in City’s second.
Her corner saw Esme Fensome eventually tee up Jones, who tidily stroked home her first goal for the club from 18 yards out of Lucie Nurse’s reach.
Tanea Wright was denied by the finger-tips of Nurse in first half stoppage time and continued to be a nuisance after the break, claiming a classy assist for City’s third.
Whale’s corner was only half cleared by Caitlin Baker to Wright, whose nonchalant backheel was prodded home by Hervey from six yards.
City enjoyed more possession for the remainder of the contest but couldn’t nab a fourth, largely down to some excellent defending from the visitors with Abby Gray outstanding.
Owen was largely untroubled at the other end as City made it backto-back league wins to move them up to second in the Somerset County League Division One standings.