Rebels earn hard-fought draw at Twerton Park

Scott Davies scores from the penalty spot but Bath City strike back as the Rebels earn a hard-fought point.

A Scott Davies penalty in the first half followed by a second half of excellent defending gave Slough a well-earned draw in Bath on Tuesday night, writes Henry Cheal.

Despite Bath’s dominance throughout the game, all of Slough’s opportunities came inside the first half. The first main chance that the Rebels had was an attempt from Ben Harris who cut in from the right hand side and hit a high curling effort from outside the box, but it hit the top of the net.

Josh Jackman tried to replicate his goal on Saturday with another 30 yard attempt on goal, but the ball went just over the goal.

Then just three minutes before the interval, Harris was brought down in the Bath box and the Rebels were awarded a penalty. The skipper Davies slotted a powerful effort home to score his third goal for the club, and first that wasn’t from his own half.

The Rebels led at half time, and it was largely thanks to Jonathan North’s valiant saves throughout the half. In the 39th minute, North pulled off a fantastic save from Sims-Burgess who volleyed goalwards unmarked in the Slough box.

In the second half Bath were all over Slough and had numerous chances, as North made yet another fantastic save on the hour mark as a powerful header from Sims-Burgess got tipped away.

Then with roughly 20 minutes left on the clock, Bath came close to equalising as Dyer hit the post with a header inside the penalty box and somehow the hosts couldn’t make a breakthrough.

But on 79 minutes, the affair was levelled up as Alex Fletcher scored at the far post from a Bath corner, one of several in the second half.

Just a minute later, Ryan Clarke produced a huge save from Alfonso Tenconi as the Rebels threatened to immediately regain their lead.

Slough were desperately trying to hold on for a draw in the closing minutes which they successfully managed, as a pleasing defensive performance gave the Rebels a crucial and hard-fought point.