British Gas Business Football League Premier Division
Saturday 31 March 2007 - Corinium Stadium - kick off 3.00pm
half-time: 0-0 result: W1-0 attendance: 460
team: Evans, Simpson, Rollo (c), G Jones (S Jones 76), Coupe (Holland 45), Harris, Rogers, Hogg, Edwards, Paul (Prosser 53), McKeever. subs not used: Green, Davidge.
man of the match: Scott Rogers
scorers: Holland (54)
bookings: none
officials: S Knapp (Bristol), K Norris (Oxford), D Edwards (Abingdon)
league position: 1st form: dWWWWW next match: Merthyr (A)
Report taken from by Stephen Ware

Bath City stand on the threshold of Nationwide South after a slender win at Cirencester stretched their lead at the top of the BGB Premier Division to a massive 12 points with just seven games left. Of course, the management insisted the title race was still being run, but there was no disguising the significance of this result as players and officials alike celebrated exuberantly with the raucous travelling support at the final whistle. If City win just three of their remaining matches, second-placed Team Bath will have to take maximum points from theirs and score and made up a goal difference deficit of 29 to beat John Relish's men to top spot. Only a collapse of monumental proportions will see City fail to secure their first championship in nearly 30 years. And, to add to the occasion, it is possible they will clinch the title in a Twerton Park derby against arch- rivals Chippenham Town on Easter Monday.

The game itself was a forgettable affair in which the wind played the most influential part. But the time for pretty football has gone. Results now are all important and City achieved the one they wanted thanks to a scruffy Chris Holland goal early in the second half. They took the lead a minute after new Newport loanee Matt Prosser entered the fray. The 19-year-old helped force a corner that Mark McKeever swung over and Holland rose to squeeze a header past Kevin Sawyer in the Cirencester goal. That was a rare moment of excitement in a game that will not live long in the memory, even if the achievement it brought nearer certainly will. Scott Rogers blazed a glorious chance over on 70 minutes after a Prosser square ball gave him a clear sight of goal. Edwards enjoyed more of the ball in the second period and might have gone on his own instead of centring when Steve Leigh's clearance crashed against the big striker, putting him clear. Prosser then nearly broke and Hogg had a shot deflected wide, but Cirencester substitute Olamidi Dedegbe almost got behind the City defence as the hosts countered. Hogg was close to rounding things off in the closing stages when he met McKeever's driven cross with a header that sailed into the arms of Sawyer. If the second half was poor, the first was worse. City just about had the better of a dire opening half-hour. Evergreen striker Martin Paul headed over after just three minutes following Sekani Simpson's cross. Hogg gave Sawyer his first involvement on the quarter-hour mark when he nodded an Edwards centre at the keeper. Gethin Jones twice headed wide, first from a corner and then a free kick and City had probably their best chance on 21 minutes as Edwards pulled a shot the wrong side of the post after Rogers had nudged on a Paul pass. City had dominated up to that point without making the most of their superiority, but Cirencester hauled themselves back into the match as the half neared its conclusion. Matt Jones and Iain McSherry both shot off target from distance, while James Rowe also fired wide following a run down the right. Edwards then thought he'd given City the lead at the end of a scrappy first period when he had the ball in the net two minutes before the break, only to be flagged offside.