Did He Really Mean It?

So yesterday we ventured to the South West for the first round proper of the FA Cup, and it was my first FA Cup match for over a month having missed the last round. As such I didn’t know what to expect from Team Bath from the encounter with Hornchurch, and knew little about either side other than what had been said about them in this here blog.

After getting to Bath via a race in Oxford I arrived not long after the others and joined them in a huge queue to get into the ground, this was obviously the biggest crowd of our FA Cup Run so far and a huge traveling support rumoured to be anything from 500 to 1500 supporters, they definately outnumbered the home support in volume both numerically and vocally. The attendance was 2067, and with eight of us there it was also our biggest attendance of the season in terms of the FA Cup Run Squad.

The first half started in sprightly fashion, and it soon became obvious that the university side weren’t going to be playing much in the way of attractive football, and while Chasetown’s opener smacked of a route-one approach they were the team that played much better, attractive and attacking football. Their second goal came from a stunning strike from the edge of the area and after that Team Bath never looked like getting back into the match, in fact their only shot of the game came in the closing minutes. Despite their front men, particularly the number 9, showing that they might be able to create something from some balls on the ground, attack after attack was attempted through long balls humped up the park which were easily dealt with by the Chasetown defence.

As such, a rather dull second half ensued, and at the final whistle it was evident what the victory meant for Chasetown as they reached the 2nd round for the first time in the club’s history and a pitch invasion ensued as fans rushed to congratulate their team (fans joined by Tom & Rich, when he eventually managed to get over the wall).

There’s an interesting report of the match here which says Team Bath’s 91 year old assistant coach had to be restrained when confronting his opposite number, and like it says, Team Bath could have done with a bit of his fight which was the sort of performance I’d have expected from a university side, and this was reflected by the fact they didn’t seem to be that much of a “team”.

And so today’s draw has taken us to Port Vale, not the worst possible trip but not an ideal jaunt either, but given their performance on the park and their support off it, I am looking forward to getting behind Chasetown in the next round and hopefully seeing them make even greater club history.