Bath City Women (2) 4 Banwell Ladies (0) 0 – Sunday 30 October 2022 – Somerset County WFL Division 1 – Twerton Park
Match Report by Oscar Lovell-Clark
Annie Hervey’s brace helped Bath City Women to a fourth win in five as they saw off Banwell Ladies at Twerton Park.
It was a perfect pre-birthday celebration for the attacking midfielder, who turns 30 on Wednesday.
City fan Ceris Evans also claimed her first for the club with Tara Taylor notching her fourth of the season in a stylish display by Matt Abreu’s side.
The win took City to third place, leapfrogging their opponents in the process.
A bright autumnal Sunday was the location for The Romans’ sixth league game of the campaign. Up against them were a Banwell Ladies side in fourth with a game in hand on City. Matt Abreu’s side arrived on the back of a cup win versus Highridge United.
The Romans started on the upper hand, setting their stall out well with clever, gradual build-up play along the flanks. Hervey had a free-kick tipped over by Olivia Worley before wingers Tanea Wright and Emily Bristow had near-misses soon after which kept Banwell under the cosh, limiting the side in black and red to minimal chances.
Hervey continued to capitalise on the visiting defence which had been leaking goals. She saw a string of efforts go astray but made no mistake with a free-kick 25 yards out after Wright had been upended by Jasmine Baker. The midfielder caught the shot pure – it screamed into the net to give City the lead after 28 minutes.
Banwell began to turn the tide but City added a second, a sublime lob from skipper Taylor catching keeper Worley off guard from some 30 yards.
The second half saw Banwell improve with a succession of corners as Kira Horsley saw an effort deflected wide and Nicki Robinson shot too close to Sophie Campbell.
Hervey made it 3-0 on 71 minutes, showing another string in her bow to brilliant effect. The number 10 took a lofted pass in her stride and lobbed the ball home beautifully over the advancing Worley.
Nine minutes later, Bath blistered away on the counter as Bristow found Evans to her left who dashed clear and calmly converted to make it 4-0 and round off a perfect afternoon.
.Att: 122
City Line-Up: Campbell, Evans, Dellow, Curtis, Owen-Jordan, Taylor (c), Davis, Fensome, Hervey, Bristow, Wright. Subs used: Diegutis, Jones, Hartnett.
Scorers: City – Hervey (28, 71), Taylor (39), Evans (80); Banwell – none
City Bookings: none
Referee: Kant Mann