Bath began their preparations for the
National finals in June with a deserved victory against
Swindon Town’s under 11s team
last night.
Following a successful week on
tour in Jersey over the holidays, the young Bath
team was keen to test their abilities against the local school
of excellence side.
Bath
began the game brightly, and it was no surprise when the away
side took the lead through Paris Grappy (WASPS). A constant threat in
the first ten minutes, Grappy was eventually put clear by a
through ball by Lee Hedges (Chew Valley) and he passed the Swindon keeper with
ease.
Bath
increased their lead when a good move down the left wing
presented Jack
Rowlands (St Stephen’s) with an opening
just outside the 18 yard box, and he finished with a clean
right footed strike into the roof of the
net.
With Bath looking more and more confident, the
home side struggled to win the ball in midfield allowing
Rowlands and Scott
(Kingswood) to push on and
support the front two.
The increasing pressure on the Swindon defence led to a corner which
Rowlands converted with a half volley at the far post to make
the score 3-0 at the half way point.
Swindon, suddenly aware they had a game
on their hands, began the second half much more determined and
started to put some good passing moves together. For the first time the
Bath defence were really
tested, and within the space of 5 minutes Swindon managed to pull two goals
back. On both
occasions Bath were unable to
hold the ball in the midfield and up front, and Swindon
attacked with pace catching the Bath defence unprepared.
Although Swindon had clearly
gained the advantage, Bath
still looked dangerous going forward and Hedges should have
scored Bath’s fourth when his
cheeky back heel was saved on the line by a Swindon defender. Almost immediately
Swindon then drew level with
a well taken goal after a cross from the left wing.
With the game at 3-3, Bath
once again began to gain the upperhand by taking advantage of
Grappy’s and Oswin’s pace up front. It was eventually
through Oswin that Bath once again gained the
lead with a shot drilled past the left of the keeper.
As the final moments of the game
approached, Swindon capitalised on a poor throw-in on the
Bath left hand side and once
again levelled the game.
However, Bath were clearly determined
to get a result from the game and continued to be positive and
attack with pace and with numbers. Deservedly,
Jack Rowlands capped a fine
performance with his third goal of the game after an excellent
passing move from defence ended with Rowlands racing clear
from the midfield to fire past the goal keeper. Final result 5-4
to Bath.
Coach Tim
Kirk, “I think the
parents would have enjoyed the game today! I was really pleased
with the boys tonight as they showed real character and
determination at all stages of the game against a tough
Swindon team. In particular, I am
pleased with Alex Jacobs as he unselfishly
works hard for the team and is using the ball very
intelligently. He
hasn’t scored many this season but his contributions have been
invaluable. The
boys will now have to prepare themselves for a tough game
against Reading on Saturday.”
