MATCH PREVIEW: Chippenham Town vs Bath City | National League South | Sunday 1st January 2023
Jamie Oleszynski previews our home tie against local rivals Bath City
Chippenham Town will return to the Thornbury Surfacing stadium for the first time in 47 days, as they welcome Bath City for the 2nd part of the A4 Derby. Gary Horgan and his team will look to see in 2023 with a bang and do the double over Bath City for the first time in over 15 years.
When the two sides met on Boxing Day, Chippenham were winless in 10 league matches. Goals from Harry Parsons, Spencer Hamilton and a mesmerising run and finish from Jordan Young saw the Bluebirds claim maximum points in league action for the first time since September. Since that match, both sides have played again, and both squandered leads to eventually draw.
Bath City Match Center
Chippenham’s Thursday was a 274-mile round trip to Braintree. The only action of note in the opening 45 minutes was a header from Alex Bray inside of the box that was narrowly over the Braintree bar.
It only took 7 minutes for the second half to spring into life, as Chippenham broke the deadlock. Joe hanks dispossessed Jack Paxman, before sliding the ball to Young who fired across the keeper and snuck the ball into the corner.
Braintree began to wake up, and Chippenham nearly had a nightmare as Will Henry’s clearance cannoned off Blair’s face and was inches away from crawling across the line.
The Chippenham defence eventually succumbed to the pressure, as following a scramble in the penalty area, Kyan Clements smashed the ball underneath Will Henry and into the net. Immediately from kick-off Braintree regained possession and began to attack, with Clemons failing to hit the target from point-blank range.
Jack Cawley put in a very late challenge through Alefe Santos and was shown his marching orders for a second bookable offence. The remaining 13 minutes provided little in terms of concrete chances, other than Harry Parsons finding the back of the net, but being ruled out for offside.
Gary Horgan was disappointed that Chippenham missed out on all three points but was still grateful that his side managed a point, in what was a tough away match.
On a similar note, the Romans gave away a lead to eventually share the spoils. They hosted Worthing, but the visitors quickly took a lead through an Ollie Pearce strike. New Bath loan Sonny Cox (who made his debut against the Bluebirds on Boxing Day), scored two in eight minutes to give his new side the lead. Scott Wilson (who scored Bath’s only goal on Boxing Day) smashed a penalty against the bar late on, which gave Worthing the opportunity to get back into the match. Ollie Starkey buried a 93rd minute equaliser to break Bath hearts.
It will be an intriguing match, so get yourself down to The Thornbury Surfacing Stadium on New Year’s Day!
