Tired Stags Fall Short In Bath Battle

Photo courtesy of Fin Hall

By Josh Cole

A disappointing night in Somerset for The Stags as we fell to a two-goal defeat against Bath City.

The game started brightly for Totton but in the sixth minute a goal from Brad Ash killed any early momentum.

Bath attacked down the right-hand side and a whipped cross in finds the head of Ash and he glances the ball in off the post, past a rooted Ryan Gosney.

After this goal, the away side just couldn’t get anything going, nothing to offer up and Bath were executing their plan to perfection.

Having a lot of the ball, Totton weren’t offering many clear-cut chances, if at all, and Bath could’ve doubled their lead late on in the first half.

It was again quick movement forward from the hosts and it was the goalscorer Ash who eventually bared down on goal, but Gosney saved one-on-one.

Entering half-time 1-0 down, The Stags hadn’t been their usual selves, an out of the ordinary performance and there was work to do in the second half.

Two subs came during the half-time interval as Jimmy Ball rolled the dice to change the game in his team’s favour.

But the second half continued, where the first left off, Totton controlling possession but finding no incisive passes to break the lines.

In the 52^nd minute, once again, Ash came close…

Just inside the box on the right-hand side, Gosney moved out of his goal and into his six-yard box expecting a cross but Ash seeing this unleashed a shot in towards the near post and it cannoned off the outside of the woodwork.

Then seven minutes later, The Romans doubled their lead, with a goal coming from captain Kieran Parselle.

A corner wasn’t properly dealt with inside the box and Gosney could only punch against the melee of players in the box and the ball rebounded to Parcelle who had a free header and an empty net to make it two.

Despite more subs and a little more dynamism, The Stags still just lacked that something extra, and Bath were comfortable for the rest of the game seeing out that win and securing the three points.

AFC Totton XI: 13. Ryan Gosney, 5. Luke Hallett, 7. Ash Clarke (Ralph Vigrass 45’), 10. Tony Lee (Jay Emmanuel-Thomas 63’), 17. Dec Rose, 19. Christie Ward (Josh Dolling 86’), 20. Ryan Jackson (Lee Hodson 63’), 21. Christos Batzelis, 22. Luke Bennett (Malachi Linton 45’), 26. Tyler Cordner © & 27. Craig Tanner.

Unused subs: 3. Brandon Haunstrup & 9. Scott Rendell

Attendance: 1,035

GO STAGS