Will Jenkins-Davies scored a superb goal as Bath City went down 3-1 to Yeovil Town in a friendly at the Cannon Clarke Stadium @ Twerton Park on Saturday 26th July.
Bath City, black and white, on the attack against Yeovil Town | Photo © Simon Howe
The Glovers, from the Enterprise National League, deservedly led at the break, although their 3-0 advantage was rather harsh on the hosts.
But Bath upped their game in the second half and hit by far the best goal of the afternoon when Jenkins-Davies struck with nine minutes remaining.
City played up the slope in the first period. And although Town’s James Daly lashed narrowly wide from 20 yards after four minutes, Darren Way’s team had three chances shortly afterwards.
Following a cross by Ewan Clark, Joe Raynes saw two efforts from a good position blocked. And then a Clark shot was parried and gathered by Yeovil keeper Matt Gould.
The Glovers opened the scoring in the 14th minute, when Morgan Williams banged home from close range after a cross from Byron Pendleton.
Bath City’s Ewan Clark on the ball against Yeovil Town | Photo © Simon Howe
And it was 2-0 in the 27th minute, thanks to another goal from close range. This time the marksman was ex-Bristol Rovers player Daly, who stabbed the ball past City gloveman Harvey Wiles-Richards.
Town pulled further clear in the 37th minute, Josh Sims holding off a defender and rifling into the net from 10 yards.
Way – a former Yeovil player and manager – brought on Jack Batten and Scott Wilson at the start of the second half.
And the Enterprise National League South outfit almost reduced the arrears in the 54th minute. Jenkins-Davies got into a fine position but he was harassed by a defender and his drive from 12 yards went well over.
Raynes curled a shot wide from 22 yards four minutes later but City deservedly got onto the scoresheet when Jenkins-Davies rifled in from 20 yards.
Twice in injury-time the home side came close to netting again.
Jordan Alves crossed and former Glover Alex Fisher’s eight-yard header was tipped over by Gould.
And a Fisher effort was cleared off the line for a corner as Bath gave their fans in the crowd of 853 plenty to be positive about.
Way said: “We were happy with our first 15 minutes of the game, then I felt as soon as the first goal went in we didn’t really recover and they managed to maintain that momentum and hit us with another two goals.
“There were lots of positives out of the game, certainly from that second-half performance. We created a lot of chances. Will Jenkins-Davies finished with an excellent goal and we should probably have had two or three others.”
Bath starting XI: Harvey Wiles-Richards, Joe Raynes, Danny Greenslade, Ollie Tomlinson, Kieran Parselle, Will Jenkins-Davies, Ewan Clark, Brad Ash, Jordan Tillson, Mitch Beardmore, Luke Russe.
The Romans will complete their warm-up fixtures when they host Bristol City Under-21s on Saturday 2nd August (1pm).
Discounted tickets are available at https://app.fanbaseclub.com/Fan/Tickets/SelectType?fixtureId=11612.
The following Saturday, 9th August, City will commence their league programme when they visit West Sussex cub Worthing.
