Pre-season continues this Saturday (25 June) as Newport County travel to Twerton Park to face off against Bath City.
The Exiles will be hoping to continue their positive form after drawing 0-0 against Championship side Bristol City on Tuesday.
The Opposition
Last season, Bath suffered relegation as they finished in 21st place with 43 points, eight points off safety. Bath also went through a change of management near the end of the season as Scott Bartlett replaced Darren Way.
So far, The Romans have played three pre-season fixtures where they have defeated Larkhall Athletic 3-1 but suffered defeats to Cardiff City U21’s and Plymouth Argyle.
The History
Bath AFC were formed on the 19th July 1889 and competed in their first match on the 10th October of the same year where they lost 9-4 against Trowbridge Town.
However, two years after forming, the club struggled financially and had to align with their local rugby club. For nine years the team ceased to play until 1900 where Bath AFC reformed and changed its name to Bath City.
In 1921, The Romans joined the Southern League and at the time it was seen as the strongest division besides the Football League.
Just after the outbreak of World War Two, Bath were accepted into the temporary National League North, where they faced off against teams such as Aston Villa. But the club was not allowed to enter the Third Division as the FA refused non-league clubs entry to the Football League.
Success did continue for The Romans as they would win the Southern League in 1960 as well as playing Brighton in the FA Cup third round in the same season, where they played in front of a crowd of 18,020 people at Twerton Park.
Although in 1963 Bath would face relegation for the first time in the club's history and would go on to face promotion and relegation between the years 1964 to 1974.
Attendances also began to drop as they became founding members of the Alliance Premier League as they played nationwide football for the first time and averaged an attendance of 500-600.
However, just like 1960, The Romans once again progressed to the third round of the FA Cup in the 1993-94 season, where they lost 4-1 to Stoke City but played in front of 7,000 fans.
Since the 2000’s the club have dropped out from the Conference League where they mainly played their football in the National League South before facing relegation in 2026.
On the other hand, Bath made history by lifting The Somerset Cup for the 25th time in 2023.
Shared Shirts
Alex Fisher joined Newport in the summer of 2021 where he would feature in a total of 25 games and scored on two occasions as well as providing one assist. Fisher’s only league goal would come in the second game of the season, when he scored the only goal in a win against Tranmere Rovers.
However, after one season in South Wales he would return to his former club Yeovil Town for two seasons before playing his last years of football at Twerton Park, scoring seven goals in 52 league games.
Moses Alexander-Walker played for Bath during a brief loan spell halfway through last season. The winger played 12 games for The Romans before suffering with an injury towards the end of the season.
The Englishman has also featured in six games for The Exiles, as he has come off the bench four times in league whilst also having cup action in the EFL Cup against League One side Exeter City and the FA Cup.