Bath City 1-2 Kidderminster Harriers
Conference National
Saturday 25th February 2012 – 15:00

I chose not to blog after Tuesday night’s 1-0 defeat to Hayes and Yeading United. It was more of the same. Strikers not taking their chances up front and mistakes at the back leading to a sloppy goal conceded. Some idiotic fans chose not to support their team. Instead opting to moan and abuse the management, chairman and players, before going home to post their usual bullshit on the Bath City forum and social networking websites.

The chances of league survival now appear very slim; although this has been the case for months. However, that is absolutely no reason to stop supporting the club. As far as I am concerned, the season is not over until the last ball is kicked at Alfreton in April.

As fans, we have been spoilt in recent seasons, with the club overachieving on the pitch. Now Bath City are bottom of the league and struggling to win games, the players need all the support and encouragement they can get, and it is at times like these that the “fans” are separated from the “supporters”.

In Adie we trust

So following the Hayes defeat, revelations in the local press from the chairman of being abused at the Ebbsfleet game and a manager also unhappy at some of the fans’ negativity, came the third home game in eight days – against Kidderminster Harriers.

Given Kiddy’s 7th place position in the league, pre-match would suggest this weekend’s visitors would prove to be the most difficult test of the three games. They were. Although despite being an ex-Football League club, with a large fan base and flirting with the play offs, I was not as impressed with the Midlands outfit as I thought I might be.

City themselves had certainly saved their best performance for the last of the three consecutive home games. It was a battling effort, right from the start, when Lewis Hogg leapt in on Kiddy’s Lee Vaughan with an excellent crunching tackle. Vaughan yelled and stayed on the ground. Probably dead. The referee, a Mr. Wigglesworth (not to be confused with the cat from Austin Powers), booked Hogg. This is getting ridiculous now. Football is a contact sport and if challenges like Hogg’s are to be outlawed, we may as well all go home now and play chess.

Kidderminster entered the half time interval 1-0 up thanks to a goal from Jack Byrne. Judging by the reaction of some home fans, the goal may have had a touch of offside about it, but in all honesty from where I was stood I could not tell.

Photo taken during the Hayes game. Thankfully, for the safety of mankind, the cone was still there yesterday.

In the second half, 1-0 became 2-0. A truly fantastic goal from Byrne. It was the kind of strike that if seen on Match of the Day, would be accompanied by the exasperating uproar of John Motson yelling “Drogbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr!” before retreating to change his underwear. Good goal, Byrney – although you did milk that celebration a bit too much.

City continued to fight. Hogg flying in with another challenge. This time it was mistimed and he was lucky to avoid receiving a second yellow. Mr. Bigglesworth clearly realising his earlier error, so letting Hoggy off with a telling off. Hogg was immediately substituted and told to sit in the naughty corner.

Hilarity followed when the linesman became injured and had to be substituted by the fourth official. Besides an animal running onto the pitch and interrupting a game, an official becoming injured is probably the funniest thing that can happen during a football match.

As the game drew to a close, handbags came out and there was a scuffle on the pitch. All football fans love to see the players have a fight. Some fans will deny this. Those fans are liars. City’s Marley Watkins got booked, although those lucky enough to receive front row seats to the event were surprised that Marley was not sent off.

Sean Canham pulled a goal back for City in the 88th minute, which set up an exciting finale. It wasn’t to be though and we would go back empty handed yet again. There is always next week. A trip to Luton Town.

Hopefully the visit to Kenilworth Road will give me the opportunity to blog more on what I know you all love and read this blog for – service stations, the state of the toilets, humorous notices pinned to walls and funny mascots. I am sorry if recent blogs have concentrated a little too much on football. Who would have thought that from a football blog.

Up the City.