Bath City (0) 1 Southend United (1) 3 – Tuesday 13 January 2026
Isuzu FA Trophy 4th Round – Cannon Clarke Stadium @ Twerton Park
Match Report by Mark Stillman.
Jordan Alves’ magnificent free-kick wasn’t enough as 10-man Bath City bravely exited the FA Trophy at the hands of National League Southend United.
The midfielder pulled one back just past the hour after Southend appeared to be progressing comfortably thanks to goals from Gus Scott-Morriss and Sam Austin.
In an action-packed tie, the visitors also had a man advantage for most of the contest following Joe Raynes’ deliberate handball.
Harvey Wiles-Richards saved Jack Bridge’s subsequent penalty but despite his heroics, Leon Chambers-Parillon sealed the tie with the last kick of the game to send the Shrimpers through.
Both sides had endured a fortnight’s break with Saturday’s original tie postponed owing to a frozen pitch, a week after each had their league games cancelled during to the cold snap.
Rustiness would have been forgiven, instead a lively start set the tone for an eventful trophy tussle.
The Romans thought they’d manufactured a fourth minute lead. After Dan Greenslade’s corner was recycled, Kieran Parselle helped the ball towards the six yard box for Raynes to head home, but an offside flag denied him the lead.
Southend responded with Bridge’s mazy run and shot from the edge of the box which Andrew Dallas re-diverted via his heel. With Wiles-Richards beaten, the ball appeared to be drifting wide before the striker was flagged offside regardless.
The visitors squandered a better opening on 17 minutes. Scott-Morriss’ pinpoint crossfield ball was beautifully controlled by Bridge, whose near post delivery was flicked over by Harry Cardwell.
More eye-catching play three minutes later produced arguably the turning point of the tie.
Chambers-Parillon eased his way past Jack Batten and Greenslade before pulling back from the byline to Bridge.
His shot from six yards was heading in, but Raynes’ attempt to block on the line saw the ball fly back off his hand leaving referee Greg Rollason little choice but to dismiss him, Raynes’ first red card for City in his 276th appearance.
Having been denied a goal from the hand of an outfielder, Bridge was then prevented legitimately by Wiles-Richards from the resulting penalty. The midfielder went high and central but the City stopper superbly stood his ground and palming behind for a corner – the visitors’ fourth successive failure from the spot.
Wiles-Richards’ joy was short-lived, as was Bridge’s frustration. The same midfielder took the resulting corner and Scott-Morriss arced into space to cleverly head home from 10 yards.
It eased any nerves from the away side. While their only chance saw Austin denied by the legs of Wiles-Richards and Cardwell ballooning the follow-up over, they’d largely controlled the remainder of the half as City unsurprisingly looked a touch deflated following their fifth red card of the season.
Southend sought to take further advantage after half-time. Chambers-Parillon eased his way into the box and deliberately bent the ball towards the bottom right corner, but the unsighted Wiles-Richards did enough to palm away.
A stroke of luck for the Essex outfit earned them a second on 55 minutes. Following a patient build-up on the left involving Chambers-Parillon and Cav Miley, Austin’s low shot from 18 yards took a huge nick off Parselle to leave Wiles-Richards wrong-footed as it flew inside the left post.
City introduced Jaiden Putman immediately afterwards in right back, pushing Luke Russe back into midfield after he’d gainfully covered out of position following Raynes’ red.
Southend nearly made it three when Bridge cut inside and Wiles-Richards needed two bites of the cherry to gather, just taking the ball away from the onrushing Cardwell.
The Shrimpers have been forgiven for thinking progress to the last 16 was all but sealed, but City made a game of it thanks to a moment of brilliance on 61 minutes.
After Nathan Ralph needlessly helped Owen Windsor to the ground, Alves took responsibility over a free-kick some 30 yards out.
Having proved deadly from set-pieces at Dorking and Chippenham in the last month, the midfielder went to new heights with a phenomenal strike which clipped the top inside of Collin Andeng-Ndi’s right post before bouncing in, one of the best goals Twerton is likely to see this season.
The home faithful found their voices and they were nearly given more to cheer about two minutes later.
Putman’s intelligent ball down the right was latched onto by Ash, who sneaked in front of Ralph but smashed against the outside of the post from a tough angle.
Kevin Maher made a triple change for the visitors with Keenan Appiah-Forson, Slavi Spasov and ex-City man James Morton introduced, a combination of pace and calmness against the hard-working 10 men.
Spasov could have scored with his first touch when Bridge’s corner was headed goalwards by the striker but another Wiles-Richards inspired block snuffed it out.
He was called upon again to deny Bridge at his near post, before Appiah-Forson and Spasov combined culminating with the latter’s fierce strike too close to City’s number one.
Will Jenkins Davies and Alex Fisher were brought on after injury lay-offs to add some spark for Darren Way’s side. Fisher’s neat flick on set Ash away down the right but he snatched a half chance wide.
In the final minute of additional time, the Romans piled everyone forward for a free-kick, and this ultimately proved their undoing.
Wiles-Richards’ delivery eventually found its way to Alves who was robbed by Forson-Appiah on the edge of the United box.
Chambers-Parillon took over and showed no signs of tiredness on a heavy pitch as he burst away, rounded Wiles-Richards and side-footed home with the final kick of the game, a goal his performance deserved.
It eliminated Bath City from the competition but with a sense of pride as the fans acknowledged their efforts in giving the higher league opposition a few scares in a commendable display.
Att: 1131 (254 away fans)
City’s Line-Up: Wiles-Richards, Raynes, Greenslade, Batten, Parselle (c), Alves, Ash, Tillson (Fisher 82), Beardmore (Putman 55), Russe (Sheppard 67), Windsor (Jenkins Davies 78). Subs not used: Sweeten, Pritchard, Binns.
Scorers: City – Alves (60); Southend – Scott-Morriss (21), Austin (54), Parillon (90+7)
City Bookings: Batten (43), Ash (44)
City Dismissal: Raynes (19)
Officials: G Rollason, T Staten, J Hooper, J Porter (4th)