Saturday 29 October 2005 - Twerton Park - kick off 3.00pm

Southern League Premier Division
half-time: 0-0 result: D0-0 attendance: 583
team: Evans, S Jones, Power, Coupe, G Jones, Harris, Bird, Holloway (c), Walsh (Paul 45), Partridge, Sandell (Clarke 75). subs not used: Holland, York, Bryant.
man of the match: Graeme Power
scorers: none
bookings: Evans (79), Harris (80), Bird (90)
officials: K Johnson (Bristol), S Johnson (Southampton), I Smith (Eastleigh)
league position: 8th form: LWDWdd next match: Northwood (A)
Report taken from by Richard Gadsby

It may have been a near carbon copy of the drab draw against Halesowen last week, but City's failure to turn possession into goals against a Gloucester side which sits third bottom of the Southern Premier League was a much more painful blow to their promotion hopes. Shot-shy City, who as a small consolation are now five unbeaten, dominated the game from start to finish yet created little in the way of clear chances against a defence that conceded five at Mangotsfield in their last fixture. For all Bath's pressure, Gloucester were hardly made to sweat for their point and, one or two dodgy refereeing decisions aside, City only have themselves to blame for not taking maximum points. A blossoming partnership between Gethin Jones and Matt Coupe in defence was the only real positive from the game with the visitors just about earning the point they turned up for.

It had all started so brightly for Bath as well with the home side forcing Gloucester onto the back foot straight from the kick-off. City won two early corners and Neil Griffiths had to be sharp to block a powerful Jon Holloway header and then charge down a Phil Walsh shot to keep the scores level. A goal seemed inevitable with Bath playing well and creating chances but as the half wore on a few sloppy passes eased the pressure on a solid Gloucester backline. In fairness to the visitors, they played more positively than Halesowen in last week's game but struggled to break into the Bath box. Bath were moving the ball around well but only had a few half-chances from Partridge and Andy Sandell to show for their efforts. And they almost fell behind with ten minutes of the half left when Dean Wilkinson raced into the area after some nice interplay with Luke Corbett only to fire a tame shot straight into the arms of Paul Evans. It was the last clear chance of the half as Gloucester soaked up the rest of Bath's sporadic attacks.

After the break, there were even fewer attempts on goal from City with Gloucester defending slightly deeper. Yet again, Sandell looked the game's most dangerous player and was brought down twice in the box with just five minutes of the half gone. The second foul looked a clear cut penalty but referee Kevin Johnson waved away the appeals in what was to be the first of several poor decisions from the official. To his increasing frustration, Sandell had another strong penalty claim denied on the hour mark when he was hacked by Lyndon Tomkins. He was protesting again ten minutes later when Jamie Reid appeared to block a cross with his arm just inside the box. Evans was bizarrely booked after making an excellent saving tackle on Wilkinson and it was Martin Paul's turn for a penalty claim a minute later when he was shoved challenging for a high-ball in the box. Bath's frustration boiled over in injury-time when Tony Bird reacted to a late challenge from Rich Mansell to start a 15-man pushing and shoving match but the game ended a few seconds later.