MATCH PREVIEW: Bath City vs Chippenham Town | National League South | Friday 3rd April 2026
CTFC hope the Easter weekend can start with a Good Friday in the A4 Derby.
We make the local trip to Bath City this Good Friday with three points the crucial element over bragging rights. City have won just one game this calendar year with CTFC looking to start the final month of the season right.
The opposition
Bath City FC known as ‘The Romans’ due to the cities’ history with the period, were founded in 1889. Last season City finished 15th in the table, following a poor start to the season that ultimately saw the departure of their long serving manager Jerry Gill, and the appointment or former Yeovil man Darren Way. Way was recently replaced by former Weston-super-Mare boss Scott Bartlett.
Bath City first joined the Conference in 1990, with seven seasons in that division before relegation to the Southern League during 1997. The Romans returned to the Conference, South this time, in 2007. In just three Conference South campaigns Bath were promoted via the Playoffs in 2010, going up to the same league as teams such as Wrexham, York and Grimsby.
Relegation followed a couple of seasons later and City have stayed in the Division ever since, with two playoff campaigns in that time, with defeats against Dorking in 2020 and Braintree in 2023.
This season has been less than ideal for Bath, as they currently sit 23rd and ten points from safet y with five games to go. They were knocked out of the FA Cup by Step 3 Wimborne, and had a respectable run in the FA Trophy beating both Bracknell and Dorking on spot-kicks before losing to National League Southend.
The Achilles heel for City this season has been their discipline, with six red cards in the league this season, including three for goalkeepers.
Fixture History
Our first ever fixture with Bath City’s First Team came in September 1950, as we lost 2-0 in the FA Cup Preliminary rounds in front of a crowd of 8650.
Our more recent battles came in the early noughties as we both spent five seasons in the Southern League. It took us seven meetings to notch a first win, with five consecutive draws in that time. Our first SL win came in December 2005, as we ran out 2-0 winners as Mark Badman and Ian Herring both scored to give us a big win at Hardenhuish Park . The reverse fixture was the same scoreline and same outcome as Dave Gilroy netted twice!.
In Bath’s title winning season we were defeated twice, both 1-0.
We joined Bath City in the National League South in 2017, and in just our second game at the level we made CTFC history battering Bath 5-2 thanks to a classic Sandell and Pratt performance.
Our next win would also come at Twerton Park, as Boxing Day 2022 saw us come from behind to beat City 3-1 thanks to Harry Parsons, Spencer Hamilton and Jordan Young.
We have won the last two iterations of the A4 Derby, with a win 1-0 last season thanks to Parsons again and this season a late Anointed Chukwu goal grabbing a big win!
Familiar Faces
A quirk of non-league football is the shared player base between rivals, and this rivalry is no different.
Bath City’s current squad include a total of eight players that formerly played for CTFC, with ours containing seven.
City’s seven include Jordan Tilson and Ollie Tomlinson who both had short loan spells with us from Exeter and Torquay respectively. A further two are Owen Windsor and Brad Ash, both forwards who played for us in the seasons following COVID.
The another three were all a part of our 2021/22 playoff run, being Danny Greenslade, Luke Russe and Kieran Parselle. Between them, they have 423 league appearances for City.
CTFC also have seven former City players. Billy Phillips, new to us at CTFC spent a portion of last season on loan with Bath. Tom Mehew had two loan spells with The Romans before he joined us, on loan from his boyhood club Bristol Rovers. Rounding out the loans, Aaron Amadi-Holloway featured five times for Bath City in 2011, on loan from Bristol City.
Both of our First Team goalkeepers have previous with Bath City, as Will Henry joined the Romans after his Swindon Town departure, but with game-time limited he joined us for the 2021/22 season and has not looked back since. Our number 29 Massimo Sardo departed City this summer, having been a feature of their first team for a couple of seasons.
The final two are Freddie Grant, as he played eight league games during the 2020/21 season, and Sol Wanjau-Smith who signed for Bath in 2024, and departed last summer.
Dangermen
Kieran Parselle – Parselle, CTFC’s former club captain, signed for Bath following our 21/22 playoff run, and should he appear in the squad against us, it will be his 201st Bath appearance. Parselle played 126 league matches for us, totalling 302 NLS matches the most of any player in the National League South (when as branded as such).
Will Jenkins-Davies – A central-midfielder, Jenkins-Davies has 11 goal contributions this season in the league, including seven goals. He hasn’t played since City’s win over Worthing in which he scored a brace, however he could be set for a return in this fixture.
Jenkins-Davies has played against us three times before, all for Torquay United. He played in Torquay’s late win against us in 2023, and all 90 in our 3-1 home defeat last season. He also played just 65 minutes in our 1-1 draw in 2024, as despite scoring, he was shown two yellow cards and sent off.
Supporter Information
The match is non-segregated and tickets can be purchased in advance or by Cash / Card payments on the gate.
The match is NOT being broadcast by DAZN but we will be bringing you live Radio commentary via MIXLR. Join Nathan Potter from 14.45 for all of the action.
See you in Somerset, Bluebirds 💙
