Rocks 0 Bath City 2

The Rocks put in an improved performance against fellow strugglers Bath City, but lacked a threat in front of goal and paid the price for errors at the back.

Tom Clarke hit the post as a better second-half display saw Bognor put the visitors under a certain amount of pressure, and there was a suspicion of offside about Bath's late clincher.

But it was still a disappointing end to a week which saw the Rocks crash out of the FA Cup to Burgess Hill.

The Rocks - with only one win in the league so far this season - gave a first start up front to striker Reggie Savage.

Bath City came to Nyewood Lane without a win in their last five, but had key forward Dave Gilroy back in the starting line-up.

As the game kicked off in steady rain, Clarke fired an early warning shot across Bath's bows when he cut in from the left and hit a right-foot shot that was only just too high.

Bath were appealing for an early penalty when Lewis Hogg went down after rounding Chris Tardif in the area. But the referee waved play on and Tardif collected the loose ball.

Bognor earned their first corner after nine minutes after a good run by Clarke. After it was initially cleared, Savage played in Steffan Gaisie but Bath keeper Paul Evans was quickly out to smother the ball.

Gilroy had a clear run at goal on 12 minutes after Sam Pearce slipped on the wet surface, but Tardif stood up to him and parried his shot away for a corner, which was headed over.

Two minutes later, Gilroy found space outside the box but his curving left-footed effort was an easy hold for Tardif.

Assistant boss Andy Awford was shaking his head in disbelief as the Rocks wasted a good position with an aimless long ball forward.

The game entered a scrappy spell in which neither side could string more than two passes together. Admittedly, the slippery pitch wasn't helping.

Danny Smith needed treatment after taking a blow in the face, but he was soon back in the action.

Matt Hartmann got to the by-line on 26 minutes and put in a dangerous low cross, but a defender got there marginally before Savage.

Duncan Jupp glanced a header goalwards from Carl Pettefer's free-kick on the half-hour but it was straight at keeper Evans.

Then there was another injury scare for the Rocks. Pearce went down heavily under a challenge and needed lengthy treatment from the physio.

Pettefer tried to head Gaisie in on goal but the ball went through to the keeper.

Six minutes from half-time, another slip from Pearce left Danny Carey-Bertram with only Tardif to beat and as the keeper came out, he lifted it over him and into the empty net.

Savage tried a shot from 25 yards as the Rocks tried to level it up before the break, but it was another comfortable gather for Evans.

At the other end, Hogg's shot with the outside of his foot was blocked by a defender, then a Rocks break saw Gaisie get in a shot which was also blocked.

Then another good passing move ended with Jupp finding the keeper with his cross from the right.

Half-time 0-1

A clever bit of defending by Jupp while on the floor prevented Carey-Bertram having a chance to get his second two minutes into the second half. Jupp flicked the ball away from the Bath man after sliding to the ground making a clearance.

A weaving run by Clarke put Savage clear in the area and there was a hint of him being pulled back as he advanced on goal, but the referee was having none of it.

The Rocks saw a golden chance to equalise go west ten minutes into the second half. Jupp and Gaisie combined to find Clarke and he stabbed a shot past Evans only to see it hit the post and rebound to safety, with Savage inches away from connecting.

On 59 minutes, a decent move got Gaisie away on the right side of the box. His cross looked a good one but it was taken beneath his bar by Evans.

At least the Rocks were looking livelier with the wind and rain now behind them, but the fans were wondering where a goal was going to come from.

Jupp teed up Clarke on the edge of the box but he hurried his volley and it flew high and wide. Then Smith's well-hit shot from 20 yards hit a Bath City defender.

Bath made a change on 65 minutes with Martin Slocombe replacing Jamie Gosling. The sub's first act was to send over a curling cross which Hogg met on the volley, but it flew back from where it had come from.

Both sides introduced new blood on 69 minutes. Steve Jones replaced Mark Badman for Bath and Elvis Erwuje came on for Savage for the Rocks.

Scorer Carey-Bertram went for glory on 74 minutes as he met a right-wing cross on the volley, but like most of the shots both sides had managed all afternoon, it didn't trouble the keeper.

Carey-Bertram was immediately substituted, with Stuart Douglas coming on in his place.

There was another injury-related hold-up with 13 minutes left, both Smith and sub Jones needing attention after a clash of legs as they went for a high ball.

The Rocks were finding themselves frustrated by the officials, who ruled that Gaisie was the offender, not offended against, as he battled to get on the end of a through-ball.

The referee had to part MacDonald and sub Douglas as tempers became frayed on the halfway line. MacDonald was unhappy about a challenge which drew blood from a head wound, but the referee took no further action against Douglas.

Paul Hinshelwood and Erwuje set up Pettefer with four minutes left, but his cross was blocked.

Then Bath got a killer second with three minutes to go. Douglas looked suspiciously offside as he ran on to a pass from midfield but there was no flag and he hit a low shot past Tardif and into the far corner of the net for 2-0.

The Rocks never looked like rescuing the game after that, but the home side were incensed in injury time when Douglas went unpunished for an awful two-footed challenge on Smith which even the Bath manager John Relish was heard to say from the dugout was 'a bad one'.

Rocks: Tardif, Hinshelwood, Hartmann, Pearce, Jupp, MacDonald, Clarke, Smith, Savage, Gaisie, Pettefer. Subs: Whisken, Erwuje, Attwood, Broadbent.

Bath: Evans, Simpson, Rollo, Coghlin, Holland, Connolly, Hogg, Badman, Carey-Bertram, Gilroy, Gosling. Subs: Edwards, Douglas, Martin, G Jones, S Jones.

Referee: Mr B Holderness.

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