FA Cup Bath and Weston beaten in fourth qualifying round ties

BATH City’s hopes of reaching the first round of the FA Cup disappeared as league rivals Havant & Waterloovile ran out 3-0 winners at a wet and windy Twerton Park.

The Hawks twice went close in the opening two minutes. Iaciofano just failed to get on the end of a cross from ex-Roman Anthony Straker, then Callum Evans denied the same player a certain goal with a great block.

The game settled down into a more even affair after this, with Tom Smith shooting narrowly wide for Bath and Ryan Clarke doing well to save at the feet of Joe Iaciofano. However, it was the visitors who broke the deadlock on 22 minutes when Tommy Wright made space on the edge of the box before unleashing a stunning shot into the top corner of the goal.

Bath responded well to this blow, with Lucas Tomlinson forcing a good stop from Ross Worner and Smith seeing another effort fly just past the post, although Havant continued to look dangerous.

While the Hawks probably just about deserved their half-time lead, Bath had shown enough attacking threat to harbour hopes of a second-half comeback. However, they struggled to recapture this form after the restart.

Havant made them pay when they added a second goal on 58 minutes, with Roarie Deacon drilling a shot past Clarke from 18 yards.

Moments later, Donovan Wilson, making his debut after suffering a pre-season injury, got clear on goal but could only fire high and wide of Worner’s goal.

Havant were now comfortably frustrating Bath and it wasn’t until four minutes from time that the

Romans came close to finding a way back into the game, Tom Richards somehow seeing his closerange effort blocked on the line by Moussa Diarra.

In stoppage-time, Worner produced a great save to keep out Smith’s header but with the final kick of the game an unmarked Widdrington lashed the ball home to make it 3-0 and cap a disappointing afternoon for the Jerry Gill’s side.

Weston-super-Mare were also knocked out of the FA Cup with a 3-1 defeat at higher-status Eastleigh in the fourth qualifying round.

Both sides came close to scoring before the breakthrough finally arrived on the hour-mark after Weston’s Ryan Jones brought down Sam Smart and Dan Smith tucked away the penalty.

It became 2-0 to the National League hosts when Ben House rifled a 70th-minute shot into the top corner of the net.

Tom Bearwish slotted a shot past Luke Purnell soon after to make it 3-0, but Weston reduced the deficit in the 81st minute when Chris Knowles headed home from Dayle Grubb’s corner.