Bath City assistant manager Lee Kendall hailed the club’s fans for their incredible support during the Enterprise National League South clash with Hornchurch on Saturday 14th March.
Jack Batten turns away to celebrate after netting Bath City’s equaliser in the Entrerprise National League South game at home to Hornchurch on Saturday 14th March | Photo © Simon Howe
The relegation-threatened Romans were on course for their fourth successive league defeat when they trailed the promotion-chasing East Londoners 2-0 at the break at the Cannon Clarke Stadium @ Twerton Park.
But brilliant backing by City followers in the crowd of 952 helped the hosts battle back for a 2-2 draw and a precious point in their efforts to avoid the drop from Step 2.
Unfortunately for Bath, fellow strugglers Chippenham Town pushed them down to 22nd place in the table by winning 2-1 at Dover Athletic.
However, the Romans have games in hand on all of the teams around them – and Kendall says the Somerset club are fighting hard to stay up.
He said: “We’re in a position where we’re fighting for our lives, and Hornchurch are in with an opportunity to win the league.
“I think there were opportunities for us to score in the first half, two or three chances where we got through behind their backline, and we didn’t punish them.
“Unfortunately, through our mistakes, we got punished and saw ourselves 2-0 down at the break.
“[The players] are 100% behind everyone at this football club. And we epitomised everything today.
“You could clearly see the fans were vocal. They back us all the way.
“And there’ve been times where we’ve not played so well, and they have the right to their opinion, but they’re a great fan base, I’ve always said that.
“They supported me when I was in interim charge before Darren [Way] came in [as manager], and they’ve supported us over the last year or so.
“They showed today that when we got that second goal, the place erupted.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t get the third, but, hopefully, our second-half performance was something that they can see is showing that we’re absolutely fighting for our lives, and they’re with us and the group are united.
“The players were up for the fight in the second half. And that was the first time we’ve come back from two goals down to get something.
“And looking at the table now, with games in hand and the opportunity to play some teams that are below us and around us coming up, we’ve still got a long way to go, 33 points to play for.
“And if we can show that fight that we showed in the second half today, it’ll stand us in good stead.
“[Hornchurch are near the] top of the league for a reason, and they’ve got some very experienced players.
“They’re a team that’ve been together for a long, long time. Over the two seasons there’s been a lot of players that’ve been in that group – and you can clearly see that.
“A very experienced manager [Daryl McMahon] who’s got them very organised and an assistant manager, Steve Gritt, who’s been around the game a long time.
“We showed today that we’re still fighting. We’re all gunning for us to stay up, and we’re delighted that the fans turned out in their numbers today, and that the players showed so much fight.
“We’ve got a group now that’s starting to grow again.
“We were quite depleted a few games ago and it showed, and we showed our frailties at times.
But we’ve got a group that are really tight-knit, and a group that’s coming back.”
Kendall praised new signing Josh Laqeretabua, who made a fine display against the Urchins after joining Bath on loan from Charlton Athletic on Friday 13th March.
“I went on Tuesday [10th March] before we played in midweek against Farnborough to watch Josh play at Cardiff [City U21 for Charlton U21].
“I thought he was excellent in the second half [against Hornchurch] when he stepped into midfield, a really good addition for us going forward.
“[Some injured players] are coming back.
“Obviously we missed Joe [Raynes] today, who I thought epitomised everything that we are as Bath City on Tuesday night – the fight and everything that he gave for the team, and almost had to get carried off on Tuesday night, so we rested him. Hopefully, he’ll be back for Tuesday [17th March at Horsham].
“And some players had to make a sacrifice for the team at half-time.
“That’s what we are as a group.
“Ever since I’ve been at the football club, this is a really good group of players that’s been added to. We’re just showing that fight now.
“We’re down there, of course, and we’re not going to shy away from that, but we’re here and we’re fighting and we’re making sure there’s 33 points to play for – and, hopefully, we can get above the line.
“We go again on Tuesday, which is a really long trip for us down to Horsham, and making sure that we’ve got the bodies that are refreshed and ready to go because it’s another game where we’re going to be fighting for three points.
“Hopefully, we can go and get three points on Tuesday because that’s our clear priority.”
