Five Conclusions: Bath City 0 Yeovil Town 1

The Glovers triumphed at Bath City to keep the gap between the chasing pack to six points. Ian was in the away end at Twerton Park, and here are his conclusions…

It was not a pretty game. It wasn’t until late in the second half where we showed signs of causing Bath problems. The first half was slow, sideways and a bit too hoofy for my liking. Cooper and Worthington looked like they’d not played as a pair for a while. Alex Fisher and Frank Nouble looked like a partnership playing for the first time together. Given the exertion against Wrexham three days earlier, and the conditions, you can forgive a bit of fatigue and sloppiness. That said, Bath City didn’t cause Joe Day too many issues in goal, and defensively I thought we looked mostly comfortable.

I still don’t like wingbacks. This team does not suit a back three, wingback formation. No one can convince me otherwise. I sort of understood it against Wrexham, although I would have liked to have seen us go with what’s made us so good this season. But I didn’t get it last night. It was all very sideways amongst the back three before a big diagonal hoof. Michael Smith has been so effective overlapping a winger and the shape just doesn’t allow those same patterns of play. It was a shame to see Alex Whittle go off, however it forced us into a change eventually, with Duncan Idehen moving to left back and Will Dawes playing in his best position.

And Dawes had a great second half. Our brightest spells came from Dawes running at, and getting the better of, Bath’s right back. Dawes is such an honest footballer. There’s no ego, he works hard for the team and last night was no different. Came on at left wing back, didn’t look overly comfortable but worked hard for the team. When we changed to a 4-4-2, he was relentless on the left. He got crosses into the box and had bright attacking moments and worked back to support Idehen, who was under a lot of pressure from Bath City’s number 15, Jordan Thomas (who looks like some player by the way).

It was good to see Alex Fisher back on the pitch. The injury Fisher suffered against Southend was so horrific, that to see him back playing before the end of the year feels like a minor miracle. He divides opinion, for a striker he should score more than he does, things didn’t necessarily come off for him last night. But, after a gruelling rehab (who can forget the cage around his leg) he’s just battled through 90 minutes for the first time since the injury, against one of the better sides in the division and is back putting his body on the line for Yeovil Town.

It was a huge win. Given that Torquay and Maidstone both won on Tuesday night, and that Bath have been in the thick of the chasing pack, those three points at Twerton Park are huge. The six point gap remains and there’s still a game in hand on 2nd, 3rd and 4th. You could see what it meant to the players and, specifically, Mark Cooper at the end. The performance wasn’t brilliant, but the result and feeling at the end was. Now we’re out of the cup competitions, we’ve got a straight run in the league, with one focus in mind.