Report – Bath City 1 – 1 Wealdstone

Bath City come from a goal behind to earn a score-draw against Wealdstone.

A Robbie Cundy own-goal in the first half was cancelled out by debutant Sol Pryce’s header half-way through the second half.

It took seven minutes for the Stones to register their first shot when Stefan Brown laid the ball to Godfrey Poku on the edge of the box, but the midfielder fired wide.

Ryan Brunt’s attempt after 10 minutes was the Romans’ first on target, Brunt’s strike failed to trouble Jonathan North as it trickled easily into the ‘keepers palms.

North was called into action just two minutes later when Ross Stearn’s effort was pushed over the bar.

Stearn’s corner is the 17th minute tempted Jack Batten but the Bath centre-half could not guide his header on target.

The away side had a golden opportunity to break the deadlock four minutes later when Simon Mensah played Tarryn Allarakhia through on-goal but the Crawley loanee’s shot was well-saved by Ryan Clarke.

Bath midfielder Frankie Artus was denied of a fantastic bicycle-kick by North in the 26th minute.

Allarakhia was involved in putting the Stones into the lead two minutes later when his cross from the right found Bath’s Robbie Cundy who headed into his own net.

Bath almost drew level six minutes after the Stones opener when a deflected clearance found Brunt in the box before firing wide.

Another chance for Brunt came in the 37th minute when his right-footed effort was struck across-goal and wide of the far-post.

Bristol City loanee Freddie Hinds was given his first chance of the game with a free-kick on the edge of Wealdstone’s box five minutes before the interval but lacked power and hit the wall before the Stones cleared.

Bath almost latched onto a Wealdstone mistake just before half-time when Christian Smith diverted the ball to Batten in the box before Batten disappointingly fired over.

It was a quick start to the second half for Bath when Stearn’s deflected strike three minutes after the break was fired over from 12-yard out.

The Romans had another chance in the 56th minute when Joe Raynes was located in the box by Anthony Straker but Raynes’ shot was well blocked by Freddie Grant.

Raynes turned into provider two minutes later when his lofted free-kick was headed over by Brunt.

Stones captain Jerome Okimo almost headed in a Danny Green free-kick but went just wide of Clarke’s net in the 65th minute.

Seconds later Swindon loanee Sol Pryce breezed past North and almost slotted into an empty net before Okimo blocked in the goal-mouth for the corner.

The resulting corner was converted by Pryce in the 66th minute bringing the Romans level with a powerful header in a crowded six yard box.  Raynes had an audacious attempt not long after Bath’s equaliser but was wide of the goal.

Allarakhia was causing more problems on the left-hand side with 15 minutes to go, his square ball could not quite find David Pratt at the near-post.

Cundy tried making amends for his own-goal when he shot into the side-netting when well placed inside the final 10 minutes.

Hinds almost gave Bath three points late-on when his shot was blocked by some heroic defending by the .Stones defence.

A hard-fought battle over 90 minutes played in blustery conditions saw  the Stones came away from Twerton Park with a well deserved  point.

The Stones drop to ninth and are now four points behind a play-off position. Next up is against Chippenham Town at The Vale on Saturday 23rd March at 3pm.

Wealdstone: North, Sheppard, Grant, Smith, Okimo, Poku, Allarakhia, Mensah (Monakana, 72), Pratt, Green; Brown. Subs not used: Paterson, Clark; Antwi.

Report by Dec O’Reilly

Steve Foster Match pics HERE