CHIPPENHAM Town recorded a first victory at Twerton Park since 2017 and bagged a first away league win this season in the process after beating Bath City 3-1 on Boxing Day.
Often an unhappy trip for the Bluebirds, Gary Horgan’s men deservedly claimed three points for the first time in 12 matches thanks to goals from Harry Parsons, Spencer Hamilton, and Jordan Young.
Scott Wilson had given Bath the lead in front of over 2,000 on Monday, but Swindon loanee Parsons looped a header in to equalise shortly after.
On an afternoon of firsts, Hamilton powered in an unstoppable header from an Alefe Santos corner to notch his first league goal for the club after the break.
Young completed the memorable win at the end of a sparkling solo run late on.
Reflecting on the victory, Horgan felt his side deservedly took the spoils.
He said: “In short, I thought we played really well, but it was probably the first time in a while that we’ve got a result which matched the performance.
“Performances have been good, and that’s what has made me not feel overly worried because you can’t continue to play quite well and not get results.
“I think it was more a case of the big moments in the game in both boxes went our way. It was a good performance, but we also showed a bit of grit and that kind of mentality.
“Maybe we showed a little bit more grit on the day, but for us it was a really good performance and a really good win.”
Chippenham travelled to Braintree Town on Thursday in another National League South encounter over the Christmas period.
Following that, the Bluebirds will welcome Bath back to the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium for round two of the A4 derby.
Looking ahead to New Year’s Day, Horgan believes his team will have to be ready for a City backlash.
He said: “Bath will be hurting from that one, as you would expect them to, so we’re expecting a big reaction from them. But, hopefully, we can match that as well.
“We both played on Thursday, although they were at home and we were away again.
“It might depend on the bodies we’re able to put out on New Year’s Day really, but we’ll be expecting another really, really tough game.
“While we won the first game 3-1, it was by no means easy – we had to play well.
“We’ll be expecting them to throw the kitchen sink at us because that’s what Jerry (Gill) demands from his team, and they’ll be demanding it from each other, no doubt.”
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