ANOTHER FIGHTBACK

Bath City 1 Yeltz 1

08 January 2005

The indomitable Yeltz once again came from behind to gain a point at Bath City. Nathan Lamey scored his 6th goal in 5 games to keep us in 8th place just 6 points from the top. Full details as usual in DJ's match report.

We've got next Saturday off - it's a Trophy weekend - so we don't play until Monday the 17th when we travel to Hednesford in the League Cup. It's been a hectic period recently so let's hope the rest does us good and we can push on from here to make a challenge for promotion in the second half of the season.

Match Report from DJ

Bath City: Evans; Rollo, Coupe, S. Jones, Bailey, Trought, Benefield, Caskey, Partridge (Corbett 71), Williams, Cleverley (Milton 73). Unused Subs: Hulbert, Owers, Shuttlewood.

Halesowen Town: Taylor; Cooper, Forsdick, Preston, Pope, D. Jones, Cowley, Moore, Lamey (Haarhoff 87), Amos, Skidmore (Haywood 31). Unused Subs: Danks, Steane

Referee: A. Field (Chesham) Attendance: 659 Booked: None

Halesowen recovered from a poor start to claim a point with a tremendous second-half fight-back at Twerton Park.

Ex-league stars Darren Caskey and John Williams proved to be troublesome for Halesowen's defence early on but the home side failed to build on their early lead.

Caskey surged forward on his debut in the 9th minute but his shot was deflected away for the first of two Bath corners. Four minutes later Steve Pope made an important challenge to deny Scott Partridge who found plenty of space down the left after when set clear by Ben Cleverley.

WILLIAMS put the Romans ahead in the 16th minute when his side-footed volley looped over Halesowen goalkeeper Chris Taylor in apparent slow motion from Cleverley's cross. Taylor was then quick to race off his line in the 26th minute to deny Partridge from a quickly taken free-kick.

Halesowen created very little in the first half although Simon Forsdick hit a 22-yard drive well over the bar after 32 minutes and home goalkeeper Paul Evans easily collected a free-kick from substitute Dave Haywood - a replacement for Stuart Skidmore who required seven stitches to a leg injury. In the last minute of the first half, Caskey burst forward again to set up Partridge but Pope cleared again.

The second half proved to be a different story as hearty Halesowen took control and played with greater confidence. Two minutes after the interval Forsdick broke up a Bath attack and raced forward, but he lacked support from the Halesowen front-runners. The Yeltz were unfortunate in the 50th minute when Nathan Lamey looked to have been held back in front of goal by goalkeeper Evans after Alex Cowley headed on a left wing cross from Forsdick, but the referee waved play on. A minute later Lamey poked just wide from close range and Ian Cooper fired narrowly over the bar from another good move as Halesowen kept up the pressure.

Caskey shrugged off several challenges before seeing his 58th minute shot deflected away and from the resulting corner a back-heel from Williams seemed to beat Taylor but Forsdick tidied up on the goal-line. Partridge fired wide on the break in the 61st minute and Taylor collected Sam Bailey's header a minute later before Pope screwed a shot wide from Cooper's cross at the other end.

Halesowen grabbed their well-deserved equaliser in the 72nd minute when Jason Moore was allowed to advance by the Bath defence and LAMEY hammered home from 8 yards out. Two minutes later Lamey worked his way into the area again but blasted wide from a good position. Bath were restricted to a series of half chances in the remainder of the game although Taylor made a fine blocking save to deny Caskey in injury time.