| When you type in the word 'dreadful' at , this is the definition that you are presented with. |
dread·ful  P ) Pronunciation Key (dr d f l)
adj.- Inspiring dread; terrible.
- Extremely unpleasant; distasteful or shocking: dreadful table manners; this dreadful heat.
- Team Bath v's Gloucester City - Saturday December 11th 2004
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| Fans of the BBC Sitcom 'Goodnight Sweetheart' will be aware how Gary Sparrow gets taken back in time to the 1940's by traversing the East London alleyway behind his shop. This is an experience that most visitors to Bath City's Twerton Park feel as they pass under the railway arches when they play the Romans, but strangely today as we visited Team Bath, it didn't happen. |
| A recent deal struck between the University of Bath and Bath City FC has seen their games taking place at Twerton Park whilst from next season the Romans will train on campus at the Uni's state of the art facilities. The students have been unable to develope their Sports Training Village as funding has been cut following below par performances from their athletes at the Olympics. |
| Twerton Park never seems to be a happy hunting ground for the Tigers, with just one in my memory coming on August Bank Holiday Monday, back in 1998. Could we improve against Bath City's tenants? |
| The only change from our visit to Twerton earlier in the season was the opposition. The high prices remain the same from turnstile, to the programme to the food. This weeks trainspotter award goes to City fan Joe Green for spotting that the catering staff wore uniforms, although quite why he was looking at mens trousers is a mystery to me. |
| I always struggle to write reports for Tiger Roar when City play against opposition from the North Somerset City. With Matt Bath in goal for the Tigers and either Team Bath or Bath City in opposition, when there's lots of goalmouth action it's difficult to vary the descriptions. I hope you appreciate what this does to my brain! |
Team news now and Chris Burns dropped himself for the fit again Lyndon Tompkins whilst the rest of the Tigers remained unchanged with the exception of the striking roles. Keith Knight kept his place at left wing back despite being out of position, but with Marvin Thompson on the bench following his recent injury, help was at hand if needed.
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| Again E***n started up front, athough this time is was at the expense of Daryl Addis who'd done nothing in his past few games to warrant being dropped. However, after years of "E***n takes it up the ass" chants, this did once and for all prove that point that E***n likes to play with Cox. |
| Team Bath aren't the most warmed to club in non-league circles thanks to their ability to sign above average footballers on what many people see as 'bullshit' courses. My own view is fair play to them and the players that want to pursue off the field interests, although the news this week that they'd signed coaches Paul Tisdale and Brian Parkin on playing forms goes against the grain and is something that ought to be discouraged. What's the point in having the team for the students if aged ex-pro's are being picked ahead of them? |
| Familiar names lining up for the students were defender Alex Ball, winger Matt Lewis and goalkeeper Darren Chitty. Ex-Tiger's number one Alistair Hines is registered for the University team but had to settle for a place on the bench. |
| The game started slowly, little did we realise that it was as good as it was going to get but the tedium was briefly interrupted by a long range shot from a student that needed to be stopped by Matt Bath. |
| Coxy tried to brighten things up with a burst into the box on the ground where he struggled to make an impace as a Bath City player during a short spell in early 2000, but his run saw him surrounded by three defenders before he had chance to lay the ball off. It ended in the City man being unceremoniuosly dumped to the ground under a challenge by full back Ali Otto. |
| City's next effort was an overhead kick from Dave Wilkinson. Now I know Wilko has quite a knack of finding the net, but his goals are usually tap in's so this effort was akin to Mike Kilgour beating four defenders before finding the top corner from twenty-five yards. For the record Wilko's effort went so wide that I got a hand to it and I was near the corner flag. |
Team Bath should've taken the lead through Wojciechowski when he ghosted in unmarked at the far post to meet a deep cross but could only tamely sidefoot the ball wide. With finishing like that it's no wonder that they're rooted to the bottom of the league. Not only were we glad that he'd missed but Mr Tannoy was delighted too.
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| After surviving that scare City should've done better when Wilko ran into the box and with Lee Smith unmarked and bellowing for a pass, the Tigers' top scorer went for goal himself and was easily crowded out. Lee was right to bollock him for not laying off a simple ball for an easier chance. |
| Jimmy Cox was looking off the pace, not surprising really having hardly started a game for the past two months. A run down the right found him in enough space to look up and pick out another Smith run but Jimmy's low ball didn't have enough power and was easily cut out. |
| Having had the better of the chances City were dealt a real blow when Karl Heiniger collected the ball outside the box and to the left of goal where he bent in a delicious banana shot. Matt Bath could only stand and watch as the shot curled a good two feet en route to goal. |
| Disappointed, but not to the extent where the students might take advantage to double their lead, the Tigers looked for a way back into the game. E***n had a great chance to score when an overhit cross from the right was returned by Keith Knight but the on loan striker, unmarked on the six yard line totally missed the ball. Quality, sheer class, just the kind of player that we need at Gloucester City. He'll get goals. |
| Having scored a humdinger against Bedford last week Knighter almost made it two in two games when he got himself into a Steven Gerrardesque position outside the area and met a square pass with a firm low shot that needed two grabs from Chitty to stop the ball. |
| But the goal that had been threatened eventually came when Lee Smith, a recent subject of an approach from Team Bath's neighbours Chippenham Town combined with Chris Thompson down the right wing before receiving the ball on the edge of the box where he planted a shot inside the upright. |
Lee has been one of the brightest stars to come from the youth team in recent years and would be missed if he left, I'm sure he's worth the extra fifty quid a week that he wants to prevent the move to Hardenhuish Park.
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| One more chance came for the Uni side when a free kick was diverted to the far post where Matt Bath had to be alert to pull off a low save. |
| The second period took a while to get going, probably thanks to the lack of atmosphere in the Alcatraz like surroundings of Twerton Park. An overhit lob to the far post from Coxy eventually found Smith, but the winger couldn't control the ball quickly enough to squeeze in a shot. Lee returned a cross to the far post where E***n was waiting, loitering on his heels rather than attacking the ball and left it on a plate for a defender to head clear when even the slightest bit of effort might've proved fruitful for City. |
| Likes buses, you wait an age for one to come then three come along at once. Only if you convert buses to chances and three to one you might get an idea of how desperately dull this game was to stand and watch. And it was cold. |
| Even though we were witnessing an unentertaining encounter, the City fans still got behind their team when and wherever possible. Although I did raise a few laughs with my shout of "Rubbish" towards E***n when he meekly surrendered the ball wide on the right wing. |
| It was great to see Coxy back in the first team but it just wasn't happening for the Tiger's star. Good work between him and Smith led to an opening but he didn't shoot when he had a sight of goal and the chance was lost. |
| The game needed something and the twenty two players on the pitch weren't providing it so a change by Bath and two by City were the only option. Afroman Caleb Kamara-Taylor came on for the students whilst E***n was discarded in favour of Daryl Addis and Marvin Thompson replaced Knight. |
Things picked up a little, moreso for the students who were unlucky to see a shot fly just over the City crossbar. Addis came close with virtually his first touch when he was played in by Coxy and with his back to goal, turned and shot but a defender's toe squeezed the ball just past the post.
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| A run from midfield by Neil Mustoe and a one-two with Addis wasn't able to penetrate the Team Bath rearguard but the ball fell to Tom Webb on the edge of his box and the midfielder shot wide. Well, not just wide but really wide. |
| A disappointing afternoon's work from Jimmy Cox came to an end with a few minutes remaining when Lee Davis took his place. |
| The fitness of the students was beginning to tell as they stepped up a gear for the final throes of the match. With bodies in the box, a few smart passes and one of them seemed to be brought down but the referee had a better vantage point than us and chose not to point to the spot. |
| City had their final chance when they cleared a corner to Marv who ran up the left wing and picked out Addis, but the Forester with the two-tone haircut, on a diagonal approach to goal, weakly shot at Chitty who'd advanced well to close down the angle. That was a real chance for Addis and possibly underlines why his haul of goals doesn't match his ability. |
| Into injury time now and the students would've won it with a wonderful drive from goalscorer Heiniger but Matt Bath, cold for most of the game flew majestically to his left to touch the ball wide. It would've been a shame to lose the game but at least it would've given us something to talk about! |
| Another game without a yellow card for City, we've now gone as long as Cannon & Ball have without getting a booking. It's good to see that we've cleaned up our act although sometimes the pro's had too much time on the ball and could've done with a kick to let them know we were there. Quite why I'm thinking of Wilko whilst writing this I don't know! |
| One City fan, who'd had the foresight to turn up late even left early to get the best value for money out of everyone in the ground this afternoon. |
| I wish it had been me! |
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| Tiger Roar Man of the Match - Matt Bath |
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Matt Bath
Star Man |
It's very hard to pick an outfield player from such a dreadful game. Lee Smith scored but had a mare down the wing, Coxy really didn't impress on his return to the first team, E***n doesn't count, Tom Webb was full of running but doesn't know what to do with the ball once he gets it so Matty gets the award for his last minute save that earned City a point.
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