5/12/15:After a very disappointing first half to the season Mendip were back to somewhere close to their best against a high flying Bath side but even so despite putting up brave resistance they narrowly lost out in a hard fought contest.
Welcoming back such key players as James Lovell and Andy Wood the Mendip defence had a much more familiar and solid look to it and so it proved as time after time they stood firm as the hosts launched several attacks without success.
Now Bath are an extremely skilful side and they kept the ball moving around with quick passing and intelligent running and movement but the whole Mendip team worked extremely hard as a unit to support each other in order to contain the threat and when in this sort of mood Mendip are very hard to break down.
Having weathered the early barrage and with man-of-the-match Woody and the impressive Will Lawton in midfield, Mendip had their fair share of opportunities going forward and although they were unable to carve out a definitive goal scoring chance they were just about holding their own so mid-way through the half it was a little disappointing to go a goal down, especially in the manner in which it arrived, from a quick side-line ball when Mendip were caught out and were slow to get back in numbers.
Mendip were having a modicum of success down the flanks with Liam on the left and Will Holmes having a great game on his 1st team debut down the right. That provided the valuable service to front men John and Steve and it wasn’t long before the visitors were back on level terms when Steve followed up and fired home when the keeper could only parry.
The trend of the match continued with Bath very much the aggressors and Mendip putting up a wall of resilience that kept the hosts at arm’s length with Leigh not really having a save to make but eventually the breakthrough came, albeit in bizarre circumstances as a Bath move down the right resulted in a cross being put into the D where Toby was well placed to deal with the danger. Leigh took responsibility to clear but only contrived to kick the ball to an oncoming forward who took his chance to score.
Although Mendip found themselves 2 – 1 down without having done too much wrong they kept battling away and the midfield were playing it around quite confidently so the equaliser was no more than they deserved when Steve bundled the ball over the line following a goal mouth scramble to go into the break at 2 – 2.
Mendip came out in the 2nd half fired up and convinced they could get a result and for all of Bath’s supremacy they did not create any real goal scoring opportunities as the Mendip rear guard held fast. The game ebbed and flowed from end to end and one sensed the next goal would be crucial to the outcome of the match so Mendip felt particularly hard done by when a marginally high ball went unpunished inside the 23m area and taking full advantage the culprit dribbled into the D and picked out a forward to score from close range.
With a quarter of the match remaining Mendip went all out to redress the balance and could so easily have stolen a point only for Giles’s shot from a short corner to strike the post when the keeper was well beaten.
On the whole this was much more like a true Mendip performance that certainly gives hope going forward in the new year.
The team was: Leigh Taylor, Toby Green, Giles Denning, Andy Flint (Capt.), James Lovell, Will Lawton, Josh Sutton, Liam Young, Will Holmes, Andy Wood, Steve Smith and John Lippiatt.
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