Hereford 4 - 6 Team Bath

National League fixtures was back on the agenda for Team Bath Futsal Club this week with their first trip an away match against Hereford, a new addition to the league this season.

With close to a full team Bath were in confident mood going into the match and were intent to get off to a winning start in this campaign.
Win is exactly what they did running out 6-4 winners. However, especially in the first half the game was a tight affair at times, yet in the second half the Bath experience and intensity shone through and they won the second period 5-1.

In the first few minutes of the game Bath mvoed the ball well find Parkes as the Target on several occassions. The first chance fell to Kitson who was played in by Captain Parkes only to pull his effort wide from the post. Despite a good start Bath fell behind to a goal on the break. A sloppy pass put a Bath player under pressure, Hereford nipped in, broke quickly and slotted the ball under the on rushing Jones in the Bath goal. To get back into the game Bath bided their time and began to show more control in setting up shooting chances, only to see them go wide of the Hereford keeper make a save. Finally, Bath got back on level terms when Gardiner found Landau who tucked the ball home into the corner of the net. Momentum now back with Bath and several more chances fell to Yilmaz and Ciaschi in particular. With the half drawing to an end, Hereford again socred on the break as Bath wre too relax on the ball, and still there was time to give away their 6th foul and with 1 second left Hereford scored the rebound on a 10m penalty. In a two minute spell Hereford went in at half time 3-1 up.

Bath lifted their heads for the second half still believing they had the quality to turn the game around and within minutes of the restart they did just that. Moving the ball quickly and exploiting a slowly tiring Hereford team, Kitson broke, played Ciaschi first time who played him back at the back post for Kitson to make it 3-2. A minute later Kitson found Parkes back post who's shot was saved only for Ingram to fire home the rebound. 3 minutes gone in the second half at Bath were back level. From here on there was only one winner as Bath rotated players well and increased the tempo again moving the ball into dangerous areas early. Then Captain Parkes took centre stage, turning from a Scheben pass and scoring in the bottom corner. Then with 8 minutes to go he Hereford committed their 6th foul and Parkes smashed the ball home in to the top corner and Bath were 5-3 ahead. Hereford now fatiguing scored a lucky volley from a corner that Bath failed to clear but from the restart Parkes received a pass from Kitson wide, he got tackled and then regained possesion and shot low with his left foot passed the Hereford Goal Keeper. That made it 6-4 and Bath still had chances with Devonport going close with his left foot.

It was a fantastic second half, a great team performance. Even so the players in recent first halves of games have made a hard work of things with little mistakes and giving too many fouls away. If they can iron those out and keep building on strong defensive and attacking play they are sure to have a successful season.

Team: Jones (GK), Kitson, Ciaschi, Ingram, Parkes, Landau, Gardiner, Devonport, Scheben, Yilmaz

Man Of the Match: Kitson

Bath play their next National League match on Sunday February 14th home to Team United Birmingham. This is a 3pm Kick off in the Founders Hall and is sure to be another cracking game. Entry is a free so come and support the team. Follow the team: click here.





Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com