Torquay United (2) 4 Bath City (1) 1 – Monday 6 April 2026 – Enterprise National League South – Plainmoor
Match Report by Mark Stillman.
Bath City are on the brink of relegation after they were brushed aside by Torquay United.
With former manager Darren Way in the opposition dugout as part of the Gulls coaching staff, his new side eased to victory with Dylan Morgan’s hat-trick playing a major factor.
Jordan Alves had City on level terms early on.
But they were otherwise largely outplayed and will be relegated on Saturday if they fail to beat Chesham United and Farnborough avoid defeat at Dover.
Former Torquay midfielder Will Jenkins Davies was thrown into the starting XI after Donovan Wilson’s late withdrawal.
It was a gamble which completely backfired – in his return from injury after 16 games out he lasted under five minutes with Ruebin Sheppard on as an early substitute.
A further setback swiftly followed.
Will Tizzard played the ball to Evans, midway inside the City half.
He held off Joe Raynes and approached the edge of the penalty area, unleashing a shot which nicked off Ollie Tomlinson and looped over Charlie Binns’ desperate dive to his right.
The 205-strong away support weren’t feeling downhearted for long.
Eight minutes later, Matt Worthington’s dreadful pass back to his defence was collected by Alves, who cut inside of Sam Dreyer before drilling low into the bottom right corner out of James Hamon’s reach from 20 yards.
It stunned Torquay and their vociferous support while City found some confidence.
A neat passing move concluded with Josh Laqeretabua’s goalbound drive blocked by the face of Worthington as Scott Bartlett’s men enjoyed a bit of territory.
The hosts regrouped and began to asset their authority more.
Morgan’s free-kick was headed comfortably off target by Louis Dennis and a penalty appeal was turned down when Evans’ strike hit the arm of Kieran Parselle, though it wasn’t deemed deliberate.
Eventually the pressure told as the Gulls retook the lead on 34 minutes.
Former Roman Dan Hayfield had his shot deflected behind off Owen Windsor, and from the following corner Worthington laid it back to taker Morgan who sent the ball towards the back post.
It somehow bypassed everyone in the middle and deceived keeper Binns, who couldn’t react in time to keep it out.
A fine move from the hosts saw Evans close to adding a third, but the Zimbabwean could only get a feather touch to Tizzard’s ball when further contact would have been sufficient.
Hamon was called upon at the end of a breathless first half.
Sheppard’s corner was helped out to Alves, whose header landed on the boot of Raynes some 15 yards out.
His first time volley forced Hamon to parry before the off-balance Windsor slashed the follow-up over.
Torquay extended their lead within three minutes of the restart.
Hamon’s ball to the left saw Jay Foulston beat Jaiden Putman in a 50-50 to flick it to Morgan, left in room with Putman up the field.
He exploited the space with devastating effect, running and cutting inside of Tomlinson before easily planting the ball into the bottom right corner.
Their next attack produced a fourth.
Worthington’s ball over the top saw substitute Deon Moore spin away from Parselle before playing it back to Dennis.
He laid off to Hayfield whose shot was charged down from Putman, but it fell perfectly to Morgan who bent in from the angle above Parselle on the line to complete a treble, the first opposition player to score a hat-trick against City since Dave Tarpey for Maidenhead United in April 2017.
That was in a 5-1 win and Torquay nearly replicated that scoreline on 73 minutes when substitutes Matt Jay and Callum Dolan combined, concluding with the latter rolling a shot onto the base of the post with Tomlinson preventing Moore a tap-in on the line.
A tidy team move involving Charlie Osborne, Sonny Blu-Lo Everton and Deon Moore resulting in Jay heading wastefully past the post as City began to tire, desperate for the whistle to blow after an exhausting fourth game in nine days.
Bartlett’s charges spurned an opportunity of pulling another back when Windsor cleverly skipped a few challenges and set Sheppard free, but he delayed which allowed the home defence time to recover before the on-loan midfielder dragged tamely wide.
With news of Farnborough’s win over Horsham it means if City lose at home to Chesham they’ll be down this weekend, though one win for the Hampshire outfit in their final four matches will be enough to consign the Romans to Southern Premier South.
Att: 4430 (205 away fans)
City’s Line-Up: Binns, Raynes, Greenslade, Tomlinson, Parselle (c), Alves (Fisher 71), Jenkins Davies (Sheppard 5), S Wilson, Windsor, Putman (Alexander-Walker 79), Laqeretabua. Subs not used: Wiles-Richards, Sweeten, Pritchard, Bowman.
Scorers: City – Alves (19); Torquay – Evans (11), Morgan (34, 48, 59)
City Bookings: Parselle (28), Sheppard (52)
Officials: T Breen, M Eva, A Madden, N Lane (4th)
