Twerton Park Saturday, September 14th, 2019 k/o 15:00   National League South Attendance: 1,444         Bath City 2-2 Eastbourne Borough
2019 /20

Comments :

A lovely warm sunny September day and all started well. Train from Nantwich to Crewe on time only to find my next train (to Birmingham) cancelled. Super quick check on options and I was on a train to Stafford to change there for train to Birmingham in time to catch the next train to Bristol. Two more trains and I was at Oldfield Park. An easy 20 minutes walk and just 5 hours from home I was at Twerton Park and queuing up for a much needed beer. The ground is proper old school lower league but somehow softer and gentler than most being set in rolling Somerset hills and nestled in a typical west country small town: all honey stone and narrow winding streets. The locals were friendly too and the whole atmosphere was fun - helped both by the sunshine and the fact it was a community family day at the stadium. And - as so often these days - the playing surface was excellent. When I think of all the mud patches we used to see even in the higher leagues the standard of groundsmanship nowadays is astonishingly good. And this in turn adds to the quality of football played and needing to be played. The game was really very good. Bath looked fast, strong and skilful and should have been at least 3 goals up within the first half hour but only managed one by half time. One to watch for the future - Batch City winger Owura Edwards - very skilful and very fast. I was stood next to a guy taking notes for the match report and we chatted. Very pleasant. And I got a photo with the mascot Bladdud the Pig. Second half Eastleigh came out with a totally different attitude and immediately put Bath on the back foot. Being only one goal ahead the nerves could be seen to be taking over and almost inevitably the visitors scored to equalise. Minutes later they were ahead. I had to leave a few minutes early to catch the train so just missed the Bath equaliser but I could hear the roar. I shouldn't have rushed. My train was delayed by nearly 20 minutes. But luckily it had caught up by Bristol Parkway where my next train was delayed. That caught up by Birmingham where the next train was delayed but still caught up by Crewe only for my final and 9th train of the day to be delayed by half an hour. On the trains I met lots of interesting people again, the best being a young (and very small) girl on the train from Birmingham who is studying drama and theatre at York University. We chatted musicals for nearly an hour. Suey picked me up at Wrenbury station which was just as well. Despite offering to walk it I was a bit tired (understatement). But what an excellent day out.