Bath struggle in Cheltenham
Cotswolds Div 1
19th October 2024
Final Score Cheltenham 13:5 Bath
Bath struggled to get the full squad on the road, and the season won’t improve until this is no longer an issue, that said Bath managed to muster 12 players on the day, albeit with at least three carrying injuries; the team did look on paper, reasonably balanced.
As always Bath are competitive, always looking dangerous in attack and the defence communicating well most of the time and getting plenty of knock downs and interceptions.
At face, Bath appeared to go into the game with the idea that damage control would be the order of the day, allowing reputation to influence play; that meant, at best the Cheltenham midfield was slowed down. On his day the Bath FOGO can do more than just delay, and on the occasion when he went for it, it bore fruit.
Throughout the game Cheltenham enjoyed the lions share of the possession, looking to turn the Bath defence with quick ball movement to open up scoring chances. In the main Bath’s D men coped well, only to let themselves down with the occasional lapse in concentration.
The constant lack of ball in the attack half caused the visitors to almost try too hard, resulting in missed passes and loss of possession. And the resulting extra work for the defence started to show in tired legs towards the end of the game. In goal Will Tilsen pulled off some great saves, mixed in with some interesting clearing.
Ben King is worth a mention at Midfield, he looked dangerous, worked hard in transition, but again fell into the trap of trying too hard to make something happen quickly, a goal and two assists might well have been doubled, particularly if Roberts had managed convert the feeds and space gained.
Unfortunately as the game wore on tiredness and injuries took their toll, allowing the home side a comfortable, well deserved win.
Quarter scores
1st quarter, Cheltenham 2:1 Bath
Roberts
2nd quarter, Cheltenham 6:2 Bath
Lovett, Carey
3rd quarter, Cheltenham 2:2 Bath
King, Wilmot
4th quarter, Cheltenham 3:0 Bath
Final Score Cheltenham 13:5 Bath
Scorers Goals (Assists)
Nik Roberts 1
Mark Lovett 1
Mike Carey 1 (1)
Ben King 1 (2)
Luke Wilmot 1
Lloyd Butler (1)
Referees
Simon Peach (Panel)
David Lennox (Club)