Repeat penalty woe for Gomis as Hawks go down
Midfielder sees another spot-kick saved by Clarke
Bedsente Gomis suffered a miserable taste of deja vu as Hawks suffered back-toback National League South defeats for the first time under Paul Doswell last night.
The midfielder missed a second half penalty in a 2-1 defeat at a Bath City side who had entered the game third from bottom and who had been embarrassed by Southern Leaguers Peterborough Sports in the FA Trophy at the weekend.
Back in September 2016, while playing for Sutton against Eastleigh, Gomis saw a second half spot-kick saved by Ryan Clarke. His side lost 2-1.
Here, with Hawks trailing by the same score at a rainswept Twerton Park, Romans keeper Clarke again kept out a Gomis penalty.
Last season, Hawks endured a catalogue of woe from 12 yards with Danny Kedwell, Anthony Straker, Roarie Deacon and Simon Walton all missing.
Their spot-kick agony returned when Gomis, embarking on a very short run up, saw a poor effort easily kept out by Clarke diving to his left.
Referee Greg Rollason had angered Bath by pointing to the spot in the first place.
Kedwell shot wide from close range before he collided with Clarke, with the match official deeming it a foul by the keeper.
Hawks boss Doswell made four changes to the XI that had started the weekend loss to Eastbourne Borough.
Right-back Benny Read was recalled, despite an ongoing shoulder problem, with Sam Magri returning to centre half. Christian Rowe and Craig Robson dropped out.
Billy Clifford replaced Godfrey Poku in central midfield while Kedwell started up front alongside Tommy Wright with loanee Leon Chambers-Parillon on the bench.
Hawks had endured a very uncomfortable first half in defence against Eastbourne, and despite the changes started in similar fashion at Bath.
Against a side that had not won a home league game since October 10, they conceded twice in the opening 16 minutes - goals that would eventually see them lose for only the second time on their league travels since April 2019.
After just seven minutes, a long clearance from Hawks’ first corner saw Tom Meyhew run unchallenged from the halfway line. He advanced into the penalty area, waited for Ross Worner to come out, then calmly sidefooted past him.
It was 2-0 shortly after when debutant Alex Fletcher, signed from Southern Leaguers Tiverton, got past Moussa Diarra on the byline and struck a low cross into the six-yard box which Tom Smith only had to stick a leg out to to deflect in.
Read’s return lasted only 21 minutes before he was replaced by Poku. The former Horndean player didn’t look in any obvious pain as he trudged off with Roarie Deacon moving to rightback - as he had done against Eastbourne when Christian Rowe was taken off after 38 minutes.
From virtually out of nowhere, Deacon provided the visitors with a route back into the match.
Collecting a short throw on the right side, he cut in and struck a low left-footed angled shot through a crowded goalmouth and into Clarke’s far corner.
On a pitch which was cutting up quickly, Bath’s first half game plan was obvious try to hit Fletcher and pacy striker Tommy Conway with long balls, bypassing central midfield.
Worner was certainly the busier of the two keepers, going to low to save from Dan Ball before deflecting a Fletcher shot for a corner after the latter had collected a lovely 50-yard crossfield ball from Jason Pope.
Hawks began the second half on the front foot, and after a nice passing move Deacon set up Billy Clifford for a flighted 20-yard shot that was always fading away from the top corner.
Hawks were easily the more dominant side after the break as the rain started to pour down, but despite their possession failed to create many clear openings. Doswell threw on Moussa Bakayoko and Chambers-Parillon, but neither offered too much in the way of creativity.
Josh Taylor - one of Hawks’ better players on the night - shot over from the edge of the box and with five minutes to go Bakayoko skied a half-chance out of the ground from a similar position after latching onto a long Worner clearance.
At the other end, Bath had the best chance of all - Fletcher scampering through but, as Magri slid in to challenge, seeing his shot parried by Worner for a corner.
Hawks failed to create any major chances in almost nine minutes of time added on and slumped to their fourth NL South defeat in 12 games.
Compare that to last season, when they only suffered five losses in 34 league fixtures.
Hawks: Worner, Read (Poku, 21), Straker, Magri, Diarra, Clifford (Bakayoko, 66), Gomis (Chambers-Parillon, 69), Taylor, Deacon, Kedwell, Wright.