Welton Rovers v Bath City. Tuesday 12th February 2019

Welton Rovers 1 Bath City 1 (Welton win 5-3 on penalties)

How far away is Welton? That was the question I was frantically asking myself on this Tuesday evening. I'd originally planned to go to Cinderford for their game with Bristol Rovers development squad. That had succumbed to a water logged pitch so at 6.30pm, I was scouring the fixture lists looking for a game within an hours drive. Football league action was on offer at Newport and Swindon but I fancied a new ground. Seeing Welton were hosting Bath City in the Somerset Cup, I checked Google maps and discovered they played in West Clewes, near Midsomer Norton and within an hours drive of Gone for a Burton's Bristol HQ. Game on.

Nestled in the Radstock and Midsomer Norton area, Welton have been main stays in the Western League for over a century. They were set up as a sporting club in Victorian times for the local mining community. Judging by the ample size of the club house I expect they still serve as a main focal point in the community. With a well furnished bar I imagine the club house does a brisk trade even on non match days situated as it is on the main road. This is probably just as well because I doubt Rovers generate much money from ticket sales. Not because they don't draw in the crowds on match days. For tonight's game a few hundred were in and I gather that Welton are a well supported team at the Western League level. Their ground though is very porous. This is because it doubles up as a recreation ground and thus has entrances all over the place. It has two different play parks on the site, one directly behind a goal and another just behind the main terrace down one side of the pitch. Even walking in the main entrance practically waving my wallet around looking for a turnstile, I almost missed the man near a shed at the side of the car park who took my ten pound note and struggled to muster change from the £6 entrance fee.

The ground inside is a beaut. There's not much behind the goals apart from a car park on one side and the afore mentioned play park behind the other. On the length of the pitch nearest the entrance though, there's the big club house complete with pitch facing tea hatch, two covered stands side by side and then a good size uncovered terrace beyond them. On the other side of the pitch were the dugs outs and a raised walkway that went the length of the pitch and separated it from the gardens of near by houses.

It was clear Bath City had bought a decent following and there was a good buzz around the ground. A Bath fan I encountered, who seemed to be in the know, said they were putting out a strong team as a lot of the players were "on the naughty step" after a 3-0 defeat at the weekend in the league. I was pleased to see Ryan Brunt in the starting line up. Still only 25, I remember the big centre forward being a cut above - and the main man for at least one season 5 or 6 years ago in a struggling league 2 Bristol Rovers side. Injuries have taken their toll and now he is back playing regular football hoping to help Bath get promoted in to the National League. 

After an impeccably observed minutes silence and an appearance from the Mayor of Midsomer Norton who was wearing a quite fantastic rainbow coloured blazer, the game kicked off. With Welton being in the Western League Divison One, there is 4 divisions between the clubs and as Bath were putting out a strong team - I presumed this might be a one sided affair. 

I should have known better. The Cup is a great leveller and the teams settled in to a full blooded and pretty even opening set of exchanges. I'd wandered over to the play park behind the goal that City were attacking presuming I might see a lot of action. The Welton keeper quickly struck me as a character. He was roundly ignoring the manager and much of his team telling him to kick his goal kicks to his left and kept on driving them down to his right, the side that all the big Welton players had vacated.

City were struggling to create much of note so i ambled on down past a short piece of running track and round to the dug outs. By the time I got there, the Welton bench were still offering constructive feedback to their keeper re his goal kicks:

"I can't kick it to the left - the floodlights are in my eyes"

"Fuck the lights - get a cap".

Welton had some quality and were undoubtedly well up for it. As the half progressed they were growing in to the game. Their number 6 in midfield was impressing and had a good chance to give them the lead when he headed just wide after he'd had a shot blocked out to the wing.

Towards the end of the half it all got a bit heated between the two technical areas. One of Bath's star players - Ross Stearn went on a run through midfield and was hacked down. The City bench erupted, taking issue not just with the challenge but also claiming that a Welton player had yelled "foul him!" just before he was bought down. The Welton management duo were in no mood to be peace makers and the resulting bad blood niggled on for the rest of the game.

It would be ungentlemanly of me to quote too much of it, not that it was particularly unsavoury. Highlights included Bath City being accused of being "big time Charlies", Welton were accused of lacking class, "oh and that's class is it?" came the retort. Someone got called Des Lynam apparently as an insult and then there was a bizarre exchange between Gerry Gill the Bath manager and a Welton kit man about which club had the most volunteers.
"That's why these games are a waste of time" was all the increasingly frustrated Bath manager could offer up as a rallying cry as the game progressed. 

At half time I had a nice cup of tea and a warm in the club house and enjoyed the tanoy man reading out the half time draw. I couldn't see him but his voice was beautiful, the kind of accent you only find on a rural Somerset man of a certain age. The way he encouraged the crowd to "come and support the first team - down the Gorge - at Cheddar - on Saturday" had me reaching for my diary.

Tough in the tackle, composed in possession, Welton were well organised and they continued to compete well in to the second half. Their centre forward was wearing a Petr Cech style hat and was full of running, defending from the front, he never gave the Bath back 4 time to pass it out of defence. On a rare occasion when Bath did get a clear sight on goal, the still capless Welton keeper pulled off a great save, tipping over from a pile driver to keep things at nil nil.

With a few minutes to go the dead lock was finally broken. Target man Brunt, who had largely been kept quiet to this point, showed a bit of class and bought the ball down with back to goal before turning his man and getting a quick shot away. It was saved by the Welton keeper, but he could only parry to Tom Smith who put the rebound in to the net. 1-0 Bath City.

A final throw of the dice came from the Welton managers as they chucked on Aaron Seviour as a late sub. They won a free kick on the right and after it went in to the mixer, the Bath keeper failed to gather and Seviour was first to react, slotting the ball home with his first touch. Wild celebrations in the terraces and in the Welton dug out which drowned out the final whistle seconds later. 

There's no extra time in the Somerset Cup so it was straight to penalties. I walked round behind the goal just in time to see 5 great pens from Welton and one blasted over from Ryan Brunt which meant the home team emerged victorious by 5 to 3. The crowd and players were as delighted as you would expect having knocked out a strong Bath City who are 4 divisions above them.

I felt privileged to be part of the crowd that I found out later witnessed Welton beat Bath City in a competitive fixture for the first time since 1950. A cracking cup tie in a decent ground.