Bath beat Bradford in thrilling encounter

Both teams served up a game to remember as Bath City came out on top in this 4 - 3 goal-fest.

One pundit commented that this match should be taped and shown to any doubters of the beautiful game.

Striker Zoltán Harsányi gave Bradford the lead with a close range header in the 12th minute. An error from Gavin Hoyte allowed striker Jermaine Easter to score a real poacher's effort. Harsányi added his 2nd goal of the game with a placed shot on 39 minutes.

Young striker Vincent Adelaar pulled one back for Bath after 50 minutes with a placed shot. An error from Steve Williams allowed veteran centre-back Marek Nikl to score a good header from just inside the six-yard box. Striker Billy Paynter then equalised for Bath in the 69th minute with a powerful close range effort.

Striker Richard Offiong then clinched a late winner for the home side on 86 minutes with a powerful effort. Offiong's impact delighted the fans with his late goal.

With Bradford staring at defeat, there was controversy as midfielder Stephen O'Leary then had a penalty shout turned down.

Attendance: 2168

After our great start to the season, we left Charlton 1-2 down and out of the League Cup. As a Coca Cola Championship team it was always going to be tough getting a goal was about all we could ask for. We also fell to another 1-2 result on the Weekend with Gillingham taking the points.


Bradford was our first home game opponent and they were inn ominous form. It's depressinng to look ove rtheir roster as the talent they have justifies their odds on favouritism for the win. We knuckle down and attempt to keep it tight, but Zoltán makes an immediate impact and we're down in the first 15 minutes. By 1/2 time we're 0-3 down but just losing out to player brilliance.

In the sheds the boys got a spray. First home game, come on lads! Division 2, come on lads! If we don't go out there and at least peg a couple back we may as well go scampering back to conference. We get 2 back prety easily and we certainly have the run of the game as Bradford attempt to coast home. I'm happy, but there's still a lot of time on the clock. Offiong gets injected a little earlier than I planned, but his pace made an impact at the back. Paynter was the man to make the equaliser though as he latched onto one of the many crosses peppering the square.

With the game all square, Bradford come out of their shell and attack hard. We, too, are after more than a draw and finally it's Offiong's speed that allows him to break down the left at pace and place in a delightful shot to give us the 4-3 lead. They throw the lot at us, but it's a dream 2nd half for us and we won't be denied our comeback victory!

Us? dead and buried? NEVER!

City cruise to historic 2 - 0 victory

Tranmere Rovers 0 - 2 Bath City (Coca-Cola League 2)

A deserved 2 - 0 win for Bath City over Tranmere Rovers this afternoon was greeted with delight by the victorious team's fans and players alike.

The first noteworthy incident of the match proved to be controversial, with Bath seeing a goal disallowed. Then followed controversy as Tranmere were denied claims by striker Josh Macauley for a penalty. An error from Lee Molyneux allowed striker Billy Paynter to score a powerful effort.

Veteran centre-back Marek Nikl completed the scoring for Bath with a towering header from close range on 57 minutes.

Attendance: 5436

Looking over the squads in Division 2, it looked like there was a lot of work too be done on the squad. We already had 3 coming in at the July transfer window, but needed a whole squad revamp to keep us in the professional league. Luckily the board have also opened up some of the restrictions and we picked up another 4 coaches to keep the team in shape.

After the holidays, the dressing room had a nervous tension as the dream settled into reality. Nervous, too, for the new members on trial while we worked through th pre-season. In all, 4 long term loaners have joined us along with 5 new players that seem up to the division 2 pace.

Our first game of the league started a 3 game away run that also included our first foray into the league cup. Tranmere. The scouts tell us that the team average wage is 3 times our, but is still on the low side for division 2. The punters also have us leaving without a point at 4-1 against.

The game started well with a new 4-2-2-2 formation to help utilise an overabundance of strikers. We're playing tight, but breaking out to the wings when we have the ball. The speed of Vincent Adelaar and Antonio German helped us get a lot of good ball crossing into the centre. With a packed centre, it gets a bit rough and we lose out on a good penalty claim. Lots of corners too, and we get our 2nd corner into the back of the net through a good near post poke by Paynter. Nikl, our tall Czech defender, heads in another corner after 1/2 time and it seems all too easy.

We're off to a flyer and a great step toward fitting in with the pros.