Bath City’s new boss Scott Bartlett saw the magnitude of the task ahead of him on Saturday 28th March – when his charges drew at basement side Eastbourne Borough in Enterprise National League South.
Bath City celebrate after Alex Fisher puts them 2-1 up at Eastbourne Borough on Saturday 28th March | Photo © Simon Howe
And although former Eastleigh and Weston-super-Mare manager Bartlett – who was installed in the Romans’ hot seat two days earlier – said he enjoyed the game and was pleased with his players’ effort, he admitted that the 2-2 stalemate was the right result.
The fixture put the section’s lowest-ranked sides up against each other.
Had City lost, they would now be at the bottom of the table. And for 45 minutes the East Sussex side held a 1-0 lead, only for Bath to edge ahead and then concede an injury-time goal to peg them back.
Indeed draws were the order of the day in the relegation battle, as Enfield Town picked up a point against Worthing and 20th-placed Farnborough – who occupy the last of the ‘safe’ positions – were involved in a 2-2 stalemate with Hornchurch.
Chippenham Town were the odd side out, losing 1-0 at home to Chelmsford City.
Bath City’s Donovan Wilson is marked closely by Will Armitage, who scored Eastbourne Borough’s late equaliser | Photo © Simon Howe
The upshot is Bath – who are now 13 league outings without a win – are still second-bottom in the standings, 10 points adrift of Farnborough but with two matches in hand on the Hampshire club.
After the encounter, Bartlett said: “I was really encouraged. I actually enjoyed the game. It was nice to be back out there.
“They’re a really good set of lads, good atmosphere on the coach, good atmosphere in there [the dressing rooms].
“There’s no sulking, everyone’s got a realisation of the situation we’re in, but what’s gone is gone and we’ve just got to crack on.
“It’s always difficult when you concede so late and I was really disappointed because I thought we should’ve had a foul in the build-up to that.
Bath City’s new manager Scott Bartlett at the Connect Management Stadium on Saturday 28th March. His first game in charge of the Romans ended in a draw with Eastbourne Borough | Photo © Simon Howe
“But it is what it is. We probably didn’t see out the game comfortably enough. I think a draw was a fair result in the end.
“It looked to me like two teams that aren’t used to winning a lot of football matches, particularly recently, so there’s a lack of quality but some good effort, particularly from us.
“I thought they started better than us. We got a foothold in the game a little bit towards the end of the first half. And second half, without being particularly good, we were good at lots of areas of the game.
“We dug in, we turned them, we deservedly went ahead, based on the second-half performance. And then, at the end of the game, we didn’t manage that last few minutes as well as we will do going forward, and as well as I would like.
“The players put in loads of effort. But we weren’t quite close enough, quite tight enough, to our men [in the first half].
“I felt they were a bit more competitive than us in duels, and they came out with the ball more than us in the first half.
“So, second half, I thought we changed that, really. I thought we were a bit more aggressive in everything we were trying to do.
“It wasn’t pretty, I don’t think it was ever going to be and it might not be from now until the end of the season.
“But we scored a goal and scored another one in really good time for us, and then after that it looked like we were going to see it out, although it wasn’t particularly comfortable.
“We are where we are, we’ve got a lot of challenges, but it’s an exciting challenge.
“We haven’t got loads and loads of options at the moment. What we have got is good forwards, so we started with Brad [Ash] and Scotty [Wilson] and then we had Donovan [Wilson] and Alex [Fisher] to bring on.
“I thought Donovan and Alex did really well when they came on. All the subs that came on today made a really good impact, and it’s got to be that way because 11 players can’t win a game on their own these days. There’s too much intensity in the game.
“We’re going to need everybody – we actually need more. It’d be great to have one or two back.
“We had gale-force winds, rain, probably some sleet at some point as well, so it was never going be a game for the purists.
“We told the lads the other day, we’ve just got to dig in and everyone’s got to play where they’re asked to play, just to get us through the games with the best chance of coming away with something.”
Of the Bath fans in the crowd of 834 at the Connect Management Stadium, Bartlett said: “Brilliant support, we almost sent them home with three really valuable points. We sent them home with one point, and we’ll keep fighting.
“They’ve travelled everywhere. They come in their numbers everywhere. The players appreciate it, and I can come out and say that, but the players talk about it all the time, how good the supporters are, and they showed their appreciation at the end, and vice versa, and it’s got to be that way because we’re all in it together.”
Eastbourne took the lead in the seventh minute, shortly after a Bath clearance ricocheted off Harvey Lintott and crashed off the underside of the bar.
A Kai Corbett corner was cleared only as far as Jack Jebb, who drilled the ball into the net from the edge of the box.
However, the Romans got back on terms in the 52nd minute. Josh Laqeretabua – who had fired narrowly wide just before the break – was the marksman, following up after a Jordan Alves effort was parried by Borough keeper Rohan Luthra.
And Bath moved in front 14 minutes later. A Kieran Parselle free-kick was controlled by Fisher and he drove past Luthra from the edge of the box.
But, reminiscent of the Darren Way era, the Romans conceded at the death. This time, in the fourth minute of injury-time, Will Armitage headed beyond replacement custodian Charlie Binns following a Corbett free-kick.
Bath: Harvey Wiles-Richards (Charlie Binns, 46), Dan Greenslade, Ollie Tomlinson, Kieran Parselle, Jordan Alves, Scott Wilson (Donovan Wilson, 58), Brad Ash (Moses Alexander-Walker, 82), Owen Windsor, Jaiden Putman, Reubin Sheppard (Alex Fisher, 58), Josh Laqeretabua. Unused subs: Louis Sweeten, Owen Pritchard, Ethan Lindo.
The Romans will be on the road again tomorrow, Tuesday 31st March, when they visit promotion-chasing Maidenhead United (7.45pm).
Tickets for the match in Berkshire can be purchased here.
