Chelmsford City Manager Glenn Pennyfather praised his injury-hit team for matching Blue Square Bet Premier opposition in all departments other than the scoreline as Bath City claimed three of the five second-half strikes to progress to the next stage of the FA Carlsberg Trophy.

Pennyfather, without six of his squad due to injury and one other through suspension, was pleased to see how his players competed against a side from one step higher in the pyramid, Craig Parker notching the Clarets’ two goals at Melbourne. He said: “It’s difficult and a test for the squad and those players, when they come in, have got to show me that they want to play and be in the side.”

“I have no damnation of them today - they gave me everything and unfortunately it wasn’t our day. I certainly didn’t think Bath were any better than us and they’re plying their trade in the division above. We had players missing who would have played, or certainly played a part, and I’ve got square pegs in round holes elsewhere.”

The centre of Glenn’s midfield was particularly hit with injuries and Ben Nunn and Adam Tann, who normally line-up in defence, filled in. Early in the game there were very few chances, although Gethin Jones’ ambitious overhead kick sailed well over for Bath and a Justin Miller header at the other end had to be tipped onto the roof of the net by goalkeeper Jason Matthews inside the first 4 minutes.

Most of the action was condensed into the last third of the half, with Scott Murray dribbling inside from the right and forcing Clarets ‘keeper Stuart Searle to show strong wrists and push a powerful near-post drive away for a corner. Michael Bakare threatened on the Chelmsford left, Lewis Hogg also threading a ball across the face of goal for Bath, while Aaron Ayadi-Holloway headed at Searle.

In the dying stages of the half, Aiden Palmer overlapped on the left and produced a swinging delivery which Parker headed over the Romans’ crossbar. Murray’s corner found skipper Jones free to nod on-target for Searle to again intervene and Nunn fizzed his own effort over from 15 yards to bring down the curtain.

After the interval the goals started to arrive, Bath’s opener coming on 49 minutes in fortunate circumstances. The impressive Searle had just executed another diving save to deny Adam Connolly though a debatable handball decision saw Miller penalised and Marc Canham dispatched the resulting penalty firmly into the bottom corner.

Chelmsford were aggrieved but their disappointment was to be pacified within five minutes when they were awarded a spot kick of their own after Jones was booked for bundling Kezie Ibe to the floor. Parker took responsibility for the penalty and he confidently rolled past Matthews to maintain his scoring figures.

Tables would really have turned if Bakare had found the net instead of blazing over ten yards out following some tidy work by Justin Miller. And there was a brilliant opening for the away side too when Cook gained possession on 64 minutes, rounded Searle and clipped towards goal, though Haines got back to clear from under the bar.

It was brief respite, because Adie Britton’s West Country outfit regained the initiative two minutes later. They thought they warranted another penalty moments earlier but still converted when they discovered an excellent range of passing, that build-up culminating in a Murray strike from outside the box which nestled into the net.

A further Palmer corner teed-up Kenny Clark to head just wide for the Clarets but Palmer’s attempted clearance in front of his own goal in the 88th minute came back off the bar and Cook picked up the pieces to score from a yard. That seemed to have wrapped up the game although, three minutes into stoppage time, Ibe almost knocked home from amongst a crowded box where Parker forced his second.

Bath held on and Glenn summarised: “The penalty came against the run of play and it lifted them, but we’ve still given away two sloppy goals. Although they were two deflected goals, we haven’t defended well, we’ve given the ball away cheaply in the middle of the pitch. But, to be fair, we rallied and Craig Parker got another two today and, in the end, we could have got an equaliser.”

City:
1 Stuart Searle
2 Justin Miller
3 Aiden Palmer
4 Adam Tann (C)
5 Kenny Clark
6 Craig Parker
7 Ricky Modeste
8 Ben Nunn
9 Kezie Ibe
10 Mark Haines
11 Michael Bakare
12 Joe Benjamin (On for Modeste, 69)
14 Jermaine Brown
16 David Morgan (On for Bakare, 79)
17 Tyrone Scarlett

Bath City: Jason Matthews (17), Sekani Simpson (2), Andy Gallinagh (26) (Paul Stonehouse [3], 90+2), Marc Canham (16), Gethin Jones (C) (5), Joe Burnell (19), Scott Murray (7) (Alex Russell [21], 79), Adam Connolly (8), Jamie Cook (9), Aaron Ayadi-Holloway (35) (Joe Bryan [28], 69), Lewis Hogg (11). Unused Substitutes: Charlie Clough (24), Jim Rollo (4).

Bookings: Bath: Jones (54, foul).
Referee: Tim Robinson (Bognor Regis).
Assistant Referees: Stephen Finch (Southampton) and Neil Wallace (Crawley).
Fourth Official: Craig Pullen (Ilford).
Attendance: 635.
City Man of the Match: Stuart Searle.