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British Gas Business Football League Premier Division
Saturday 24 March 2007 - Twerton Park - kick off 3.00pm
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| half-time: 3-0 |
result: W3-1 |
attendance: 801 |
| team: |
Evans, Simpson (Green 50), Rollo (c), G Jones, Coupe, Harris, Hogg, Rogers, Edwards (Paul 75), Walsh, McKeever (Davidge 64).
subs not used: Holland, Clarke. |
| man of the match: |
Adie Harris |
| scorers: |
Hogg (6), Walsh (25), Harris (39) |
| bookings: |
Hogg (21) |
| officials: |
to follow |
| league position: 1st |
form: WDdWWW |
next match: Clevedon (A) |
Report taken from  by Stephen Ware
On Wednesday night Corby Town, at that time bottom of the table, substantially dented Kings Lynn's prospects of the title with a stunning 3-0 victory. For
the opening five minutes at Twerton Park on Saturday, it looked as if the Steelmen may have had similar pretensions towards disrupting City's promotion
ambitions. From the referee's whistle, the visitors poured forward in numbers and, with the game only a minute old, came close to scoring when Chris
Goodman hit a stunning shot from 30 yards out. The faintest of touches from keeper Paul Evans pushed the ball against the crossbar before it safely bounced
back into open play. Corby continued to press, but soon found that when you are bottom of the league the rub of the green invariably turns out to be grass
stains rather than good fortune. Just minutes after City's escape, Mark McKeever had two free-kicks in quick succession on the edge of the Corby 18-yard box.
His first attempt saw the ball rebound to Scott Rogers, whose shot then went wide. The winger's second kick also came back off a defender, only this time
falling to Lewis Hogg. Hogg, who is rapidly becoming City's 'Master of Deflection', given his increasing skill at scoring by knocking the ball against an
opponent's legs, repeated his party piece. On Saturday, it was the hapless Robbie Maddox who had to stand and watch his keeper dive the wrong way as Hogg's
shot diverted off the Corby man's legs before settling in the bottom right corner. This proved to be just the stimulant Bath needed as they began to
increasingly dominate the game. Twenty minutes later they were 2-0 up. An innocuous tackle on Jim Rollo saw Corby's Chris Gray receive a mild talking-to
from the referee. Gray persisted in arguing, but Mr Norman was not to be engaged in idle discourse and, as the Corby player's persistence continued
undiminished, first one and then a second yellow card was shown, reducing the visitors to ten men. Gray's error produced yet another inch-perfect free-kick
from McKeever who swung the ball across the goal area. Darren Edwards was first to react with a stunning shot which keeper Ian Pledger could only parry as
far as Phillip Walsh, who stabbed home from no more than a couple of yards. City went further ahead five minutes before the interval with the move of the
match. It started with the impressive Sekani Simpson on the right, flicking the ball inside to Hogg. From there it went via Rogers to Adie Harris. Harris
hit a ferocious shot which Pledger only half stopped before it rolled under his body and into the goal.
The second half, in comparison, produced little that was memorable.
With City only needing to maintain their lead and ten-man Corby never looking likely to pull back three goals, the outcome was always heading towards stalemate.
A flurry of substitutions saw Mike Green, Craig Davidge and Martin Paul introduced, but, one Hogg shot apart, there was little for City fans to cheer.
In the end, it was Corby who broke through, with Steven Towers heading home for a consolation goal with 20 minutes to go.
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