Bath City 1 Enfield Town 1
Report by Andrew Warshaw
Enfield Town made it seven points out of nine as Billy Leonard scored for the second year running at Twerton Park to give us a share of the spoils – the least we deserved on the day.
Town had only won once in the league away while Bath have been struggling at home for large parts of the season. A draw therefore seemed a likely outcome and so it proved as we remained two places above the drop zone.
With Joe Kizzi ruled out with a groin strain along with Mickey Parcell, who celebrates his 30th birthday on Tuesday, Ruaridh Donaldson was drafted into the back three.
Bath started the brighter and twice threatened our goal before Sam Youngs – again wearing protective headgear – struck the base of the post following a corner.
As we gained a foothold, Xavier Benjamin went on a driving run before shooting well and Lemar Reynolds just failed to supply a strong enough finish to convert Cian Dillon’s brilliant swivel and pass. At the other end, the Romans continued to keep us on our toes as dangerman Owen Windsor’s goalbound effort was luckily deflected wide.
Youngs should have hit the target with the final action of the half but in truth defences had been very much on top with clearcut chances few and far between.
H-T 0-0
A pot-marked pitch didn’t help either team but desperate for a first home win since Oct 21, Bath flew out of the traps after the interval and for 15 minutes put us under severe pressure.
It was during this spell that they forged ahead. A Joe Raynes’ 25-yard screamer had already been pushed over by George Barratt when Luke Russe’s pull-back in the area found Windsor who blasted the ball home before any Town defender could reach him.
Barratt was quickly called into action twice more, first tipping a Keiran Parcelle volley round the post, then saving from Matt Bowman after Tosh Gallimore was caught dithering.
But Town weathered the storm and just like in the first half came on strong, epitomised by Leonard’s superb equaliser as he played the ball up the line to Dillon before sprinting into the box to receive it back and sweep home.
Town, with renewed optimism and momentum, now looked the team likely to take all three points as we pegged Bath back. Reynolds would have scored had he shot either side of Charlie Binns instead of straight at him while Olle Davis, on as an impact sub, twice worked his way into dangerous positions without quite delivering the finish.
After our first league draw since the end of August, Gavin Macpherson was quietly content, all the more so with the news that Cian Dillon’s loan spell looks set to be extended after talks with QPR.
“They started better than us in each half but overall we’re slightly disappointed not to have nicked it,” said Gavin. “It’s a decent result given our reaction after they scored. The really important thing now is the week ahead of next Saturday against Hampton and Richmond because then you start to look at 10 points from 12 which is as good as most teams in the division.”
Town:
Barratt; Donaldson, Thompson, Benjamin; Adom-Malaki, Bullas, Gallimore, Youngs, Leonard; Dillon, Reynolds (Davis 70)