Wonderful team ‘maybe too nice’ to win the uglier games
Gill questions his ‘wonderful team’ after narrow Slough loss
Scott Davies’ magnificent freekick saw Slough Town record their first win at Twerton Park since August 1992.
The player-manager curled in from 30 yards, soon after Jordan Thomas had deservedly got City back on level terms.
Slavi Spasov pinched his fourth goal in four games to put the Rebels ahead in an attritional first half.
Thomas’ tenth league goal of the season proved not enough as City suffered back-to-back losses.
Luke Russe was cautioned inside a minute in a disjointed opening where neither side could maintain possession.
Thomas was played through by Dan Hayfield but having been forced wide he shot too close to Dan Lincoln.
Slough were gifted an opener on 38 minutes. Munashe Sundire capitalised on Russe’s dalliance, roared towards goal and his shot appeared to be heading in before Spasov applied the finishing touch, maintaining the Rebels’ record of netting in every away league game this term.
Russe was replaced before the break by Chris Lines and his corner was flicked on by Jordan Dyer to Cody Cooke, who headed over by a tight angle.
City looked far improved at the start of the second half with a burst of energy and zip about their play. Lines’ super reverse ball found Thomas one on one but Lincoln advanced and charged him down.
The equaliser was a thing of beauty from a Bath perspective. Oscar Thorn played inside to Thomas, whose deft footwork saw him fool Dan Bayliss and Sundire before he blasted central from eight yards to beat Lincoln.
It took just four minutes for Slough to retake the lead. Kieran Parselle brought down the tricky Sundire and Davies stepped up to dip home a trademark free-kick, with Will Buse at full-stretch to his right unable to keep it out.
Cooke nearly manufactured a second leveller from nothing, pulling wide from the corner of the penalty box after Lincoln was caught in no-man’s-land.
Slough substitute Nathan Minhas ballooned well over from six yards when Sundire’s pull-back appeared to gift the leading marksman a tap-in.
Scott Wilson headed Thorn’s digged delivery off target from eight yards and Cooke nodded towards goal after Lincoln made a mess of a hanging ball, with Temi Eweka sparing his blushes by clearing off the line.
It proved pivotal as Slough’s improvement continued – their fourth win in six moves them to a season high position of 13th with City remaining in the play-off mix despite the frustrating loss.
“Maybe we’re too nice,” said Jerry Gill afterwards.
“We don’t do the ugly side of the game well enough.
“We haven’t got anyone who really wants to get hurt in the box, someone who is really going to attack a cross. When balls are going in there’s one player isolated.
“When we’re attacking we’re too safe, we need to throw more bodies on the edge of the box, take a gamble.
“Slough are great – they smother the ball, they get around as teammates.
“But they are also appealing, falling on the floor, wasting time.
“I’m not sure if we do the ugly side of the game well enough. We’re a wonderful team when we’re in full flow.
“I feel like this is an important moment in the season. We need to react in the right way and get points on the board – we don’t want to slip away from the play-offs.”
Luke Russe was replaced by Chris Lines minutes after his error cost the opening goal.
“Luke’s been terrific for us this season but has just found it difficult the last couple of games,” said Gill.
“All players will have dips of form, we felt like we needed to protect him.
“You could visibly see he was suffering a bit.
“I should have done the substitution earlier maybe. Tactically we needed to change it.
“We thought we could then dominate midfield and I thought Chris was wonderful when he came on.”
Coalville Town await on Saturday in the FA Trophy after the Leicestershire side overcame Walsall Wood in the 3rd Round. The Step 3 side won 2-0 on Tuesday night after the match finally went ahead at the sixth attempt.
“I’ve got a couple of reports on them,” said Gill.
“A friend from the Midlands watched it this evening.
“It’s an opportunity, but only if we turn up and do the nitty-gritty, do the ugly side first.
“Undoubtedly we’ll create chances. It wasn’t so long ago we were scoring twos, threes and fours in games.
“We don’t look like that at the moment and that needs to return.
“It’s a competition vitally important to supporters, us and the Football Club. It’ll be lovely to have a run in it.” Bath City Women missed a plethora of chances as they were held at struggling Shaftesbury.
The Dorset side had lost their last five league games but set up defensively against Matt Abreu’s team, and their hard work got its rewards with a first clean sheet since the opening day.
Tara Taylor rattled the goal-frame twice as City enjoyed swathes of possession.
But a lack of killer instinct cost them dear as they started the year with a point.
Taylor hit the bar on 11 minutes when Amy Key’s corner was only half cleared, and another set-piece by the youngster created further issues for the home back-line as Mils Bellotti was inches away from connecting.
Emma Stranger shovelled Emily Dellow’s shot around the post in the final action of the half which largely belonged to the Romans.
Poppy Chapman placed a freekick just wide for the hosts after Sadie Farley was penalised for handball outside her area. The keeper was seldom troubled with Chelsie Johnson shooting into the side-netting from a quick throw-in, as instead it was the home defence, with former Roman Paige Owen at left-back, regularly on the back foot.
City had four near misses in the space of three minutes during the closing stages. The impressive Libby Goater saw her 25-yarder palmed over by Stranger, who was grateful to see Taylor’s effort from the resulting corner come back off the post.
Tanea Wright cut inside before unleashing a fine drive which Stranger did well to tip away before Hari Sabic volleyed over from four yards after Goater picked her out at the far post. Ultimately it left City frustrated and they’ll look to be more clinical next Sunday against bottom markers Ridgeway.
■ Ceris Evans and Esme Fensome both netted hat-tricks for the Development side in their 8-1 thrashing of hosts Hutton. Jasmine Rennie had opened the scoring for Bath on 22 minutes, before Evans struck twice to make it 3-0 before the half-hour mark.
Olivia Davis added the fourth on 39 minutes, with Fensome opening her account for the day just before the break. Fensome added her second three minutes into the second half and the secured her treble on the hour, with Evans doing likewise eight minutes later. Bath are now two points off Division Two North leaders Weston-super-mare Reserves.