First ever game against Purley Raptors disappointing for the Men
SEMLA Division 2
Odd Down, Bath
November 2nd 2024
Final Score Bath 4:15 Purley Raptors
Bath has a long history of matches against one of the older club names in the South, past results against Purley have been at the high end of both ends of the loss/win scale -past results include a mighty win for Bath in the old SEMLA Division 1 of 28:3 in December 1992 and an equally impressive Bath loss of 31:2 in January 2001.
When it comes to the London Raptors, Bath has only played newest capital team once, in a Promotion playoff game, losing 19:1 in 2018.
Sadly Purley were folding due to a lack of players coupled with expensive facilities, but the name by saved with a merger with the London Raptors to give the aptly named Purley Raptors.
So despite the history, this fixture will go down as the first ever game between Bath and Purley Raptors, a bit of history made in the lacrosse world.
The Raptors came to Bath with good numbers, travelling well, which is unusual in this day and age, putting out a 17-man squad, Bath at home fielded only 14, due to injuries in the main.
The old cliché would be “this was a game of two halves”, so true. Bath struggled in key areas of the game, Raptors dominated the face off and the consequent possession enabled them to score regularly throughout the first two quarters, Bath, although getting some good possession, were chasing the game, and rushed the attack, allowing the visiting goalkeeper the opportunity to shine. Two 5:0 quarters saw the home team looking down the barrel of a big defeat. One that could have been far worse but for some excellent saves by Will Tilson in the Bath goal.
After the half time break Bath seemed to wake up and play some decent lacrosse, goals from Luke Wilmot and Mike Carey meant the third quarter was a 3:2 win for the home team, not enough to realistically close the first half deficit, but certainly gave a feeling of being “in the game”
The final quarter was also a close affair with the Raptors taking it 3:1, should have been closer but for dropped passes on the crease by Roberts, scoring only 1 from 3 chances.
Overall the better team won on the day, Bath need to compete from the starting whistle if they hope to be at the top end of the division towards the end of the season.
Photos on Facebook CLICK
1st quarter Bath 0:5 Purley Raptors
2nd quarter Bath 0:5 Purley Raptors
3rd quarter Bath 3:2 Purley Raptors
Wilmot, Wilmot, Carey
4th quarter Bath 1:3 Purley Raptors
Roberts
Final Score Bath 4:15 Purley Raptors
Scorers
Luke Wilmot 2
Mike Carey 1
Nik Roberts 1
Referees
Izzy Sankey (Bath Uni)
Luke Pery (Bath Uni)
CBO
Neil Anthony