Somerset Premier Cup 2nd Round
Tuesday 21 November 2006 - Twerton Park - kick off 7.45pm
half-time: 1-0 result: L1-2 attendance: 131
team: Astley, Rollo (c), Green, York, Simpson (S Jones 45), Clarke, Davidge, Rogers, Pritchard (Partridge 68), Phillips (Zarczynski 57), McKeever. subs not used: Tyers, Peters.
man of the match: Mike Green
scorers: Phillips (1)
bookings: none
officials: M Strong, A Fricker, D McEllin
league position: n/a form: dWWWWL next match: Tooting (H)
Report taken from by Richard Gadsby

A Weakened Bath City side crashed out of the Somerset Premier Cup to holders Taunton despite making a lightning start. City got off to a flier and found themselves in front with less than a minute played. Craig Davidge broke down the right and swung in a low cross that Taunton should have dealt with easily. Instead, they let it run to not one, but two, unmarked City players with Justin Pritchard mis-kicking his shot to John Phillips, who stroked the ball home from six yards. City fans expecting a goal rush were sadly misled. For the next quarter of an hour Taunton created a glut of chances but were let down by some awful finishing. City keeper Chris Astley had to make to sharp stops from Charlie Welch and Sonto Da Mata in the space of five minutes. Steve Cook was then forced wide by Astley after breaking clean through on the left but still managed to square the ball past stranded keeper to leave Da Mata with an open goal. The striker took his time, picked his spot and then calmly played the ball the wrong side of the right post from 12 yards out. It was poor viewing for the rest of the half as City comfortably held on to their lead until the break.

The second half proved more entertaining with Taunton much more deadly in front of goal and City throwing on their first-choice strikers midway through. Matt Beadle, the son of Newport boss Peter, bundled the ball home from eight yards after good work from Cook on the left. And the visitors were in front six minutes later when Steve Jones fouled in the box and Cook blasted home the resulting penalty. It was no more than they deserved against a disjointed City team that often, somewhat understandably, looked uninterested. In fairness, when Scott Partridge came on for the last 20 minutes, they were easily the better side. Scott Rogers came closest to equalising with a couple of ranged efforts that just skimmed the post. The misses even brought a few sighs of relief from some City fans, as the prospect of extra-time, in a competition the club could frankly do without, loomed large, but Taunton held on.