Day 267

Benjamin Laurant returned to the starting eleven today after sitting out the past six matches. Injured winger Chris Shuker made way for the Frenchman. Peter Bore and Ben May made the bench following their recent period of exile from the first team. I fielded an otherwise-unchanged side from the one that lost to Hayes & Yeading three days ago.

Our opponents Bath set out to crowd the midfield and keep us from playing our natural game; they lined up in a 4-5-1 formation.

With Birchall and Shuker both missing, the weight fell on Michael Woods to pull the strings in midfield. If he were to falter, I expected a tough encounter; if he were on form, I anticipated a big win.

Bath almost took a shock lead a single minute after kick off. A direct free kick from the edge of the area hit the bar, bounced off goalkeeper Elvijs Putnins, and was cleared away by my defenders. At the other end, Olembé crafted the first real chance of the game. An excellent run and cross along the left wing teed up Laurant at the edge of the six-yard box, but the Frenchman’s shot was blocked. He perhaps should have done better.

We dominated the next 20 minutes, managing several attempts on goal in the process but nothing clear-cut. It looked like Bath were going to frustrate us today, especially when Koroma was stretchered off the field after 40 minutes. He looked to be in pain; I hoped it wasn’t serious—the poor lad’s missed enough football this season through injury. Ben May replaced the young striker, necessitating a slight change in tactics.

May lined up as a target man, tasked with bringing his attacking teammates into the play. But it was he who had the best chance of the first half. Olembé and Barnes-Homer combined to slip the ball through to May, unmarked in the penalty area. He looked certain to score, but he snatched at the chance and put it wide of the post.

We came out strong for the second half, and managed to open the scoring in the 52nd minute with a bizarre goal. Kanouté threw the ball in to Laurant, who crossed to the near post. It bounced off a Bath defender’s back, then May picked it up on the byline. He dribbled into the box and passed low across the face of goal. The ball struck Sekani Simpson and bounced loose towards the edge of the area, where Woods raced in and fired hard at goal. Barnes-Homer found himself directly in the path of the shot, which took a huge deflection off the striker and flew into the back of the net. The poor goalkeeper had no idea what was happening, left wrong-footed and out of position by the game of pinball in his area. Barnes-Homer claimed the goal as his own, as any striker would.

Olembé doubled the lead ten minutes later, just as I was preparing to take him off the pitch. You couldn’t wish for a better final contribution. Woods made it, though, showing great vision to thread the needle between two Bath defenders and find the run of the evergreen Cameroonian winger.

I subbed Woods off five minutes later; he’d done his job, and done it well. Now I needed him fit and ready to repeat the performance in four days.

Left-back Alex Billington went off injured with ten minutes to play, which put us down to ten men for the final stages. I got worried when Marques went down hurt three minutes later, but he dusted himself off and returned to the match after some treatment on the sidelines.

My boys held on for a clean sheet and a two-nil win, with Woods deservedly-crowned man of the match. His two assists made the difference.

In other results, Mansfield won comfortably away at Darlington; Wrexham faltered again, however, with a draw at home to Hayes & Yeading. Wrexham are now out of the title race, leaving only eight-points-adrift Mansfield within shouting distance. If we win our next two league matches, we’ll be Conference champions. Even if we don’t, however, the remaining games look to be only a formality at this point.

The excellent news post-match is that Koroma and Billington are both fine. Koroma should be fit to start on Saturday, while Billington is unlikely to recover his condition in time—he’s looking exhausted and stiff. Barnes-Homer and Gowling have started showing signs of fatigue, too, so I’ll need to consider resting them against Braintree.

My scouts have spotted a very promising fifteen-year-old Northern Irish striker by the name of Roy Edgar. He’s got decent pace, incredible natural fitness, and solid technical and mental attributes for a boy his age. They think we should sign him, and I’m inclined to agree, but we can’t afford to pay his club the £96,120 they’d be due in compensation. Ian Gardner thinks we could probably buy him for less, but that’s still money we don’t have. Maybe next season.