Bath City maintained their unbeaten run after four matches despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Basingstoke Town at the Cannon Clarke Stadium.
The Romans took the lead through Harry Parsons, who expertly curled the ball into the bottom left corner following a poor Basingstoke back pass. However, the advantage was short-lived as Tom Blake equalised almost four minutes later, capitalising on a clever pass from Miles Obodo.
Alex Fisher made a return to competitive football after reversing his summer retirement decision and was named on the bench for Bath City. Manager Scott Bartlett made three changes to his starting lineup, including awarding Seweryn Streczen his first league start. Notably absent was Joe Raynes, who missed the match as he welcomed the birth of his first child earlier that day.
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In Raynes’ absence, Jordan Tillson assumed the captain’s armband, while Ollie Chamberlain was repositioned to right back to face the challenge of lively winger Jeremiah Okine-Peters. The former Reading academy player posed an early threat, but defensive interventions helped keep Basingstoke at bay during the opening exchanges.
Both sides created chances, with Bath City’s Louis McGrory and Enzio Boldewijn testing Basingstoke goalkeeper Simon Grant in the first half, while Bath keeper Harvey Wiles-Richards made several key saves, including from a well-worked free-kick routine.
The second half saw a dip in quality and fewer clear-cut opportunities. Fisher and Scott Wilson were introduced around the 60-minute mark to refresh Bath City’s attack. They came close to scoring, with Fisher denied by a late offside decision and a save from Grant.
Late in the game, Bath City had a golden chance to snatch victory when Obodo missed an excellent opportunity, firing wide from a promising position.
Post-match, Bartlett reflected on his side’s performance: “They’re almost trying too hard. They need to relax, and we need to be better with the ball. A draw was a fair result. We didn’t work their goalkeeper enough or get our wide players into dangerous areas. The players need to know they can take more risks-I want to enjoy watching us. We’ve got to find a pattern that suits everybody. We haven’t quite got that yet-we saw it for about an hour against Plymouth Parkway; the rest has been pure effort and endeavour. We ran hard but I want to see a bit more quality.”
Bath City will aim to maintain their unbeaten start when they host Uxbridge on Saturday at 3pm at the Cannon Clarke Stadium. The next opponents, known as the Red Army, recently secured a thrilling 5-4 victory over Taunton and currently sit near the top of the table.
Bartlett also provided updates on his squad’s fitness: “I’m hoping Donovan Wilson will return after missing the last three games. I want to make sure he’s in tip-top condition to avoid a repeat of last season’s injury issues. Harrison Minturn should be fine. I’m pleased we got 90 minutes into Danny Greenslade today and valuable game time for James Morton. Joe Raynes will be back after a remarkable couple of days. There’s work to do overall, but it does represent a decent start.”
The upcoming fixture between Bath City and Weymouth, scheduled for Saturday 5 September, carries rich history. The two clubs will meet for the 163rd time and their eighth FA Cup encounter. Weymouth, relegated twice in recent seasons and now competing in Step 4 for the first time since 1921, have kicked off their campaign strongly, winning their Preliminary Round match 6-0.
Previous FA Cup meetings have seen closely contested battles, with the most recent ending in a 2-1 victory for Bath City in September 2023.
The winner of this year’s tie will receive £2,250, with £750 awarded to the losing side. In the event of a draw, a replay is expected to take place three days later in Weymouth.