Romans Conquer the Bees Citadel

Bridport 1 Bath City 4 (at St Mary's Field)

BRIDPORT were unceremoniously dumped out of the FA Cup by Bath City in front of a the biggest gate for three seasons at St Mary's Field. The Bees battled hard against their Southern League Premier Division opponents, but the Romans always had the upper hand with their wealth of former professional footballers. A first half littered with mistakes cost the Bees dear as City confirmed their superiority by racing into a 3-1 half-time lead. The second period saw a gutsy effort from the home side, and Bath were forced to wait until stoppage time before they added the fourth goal. Bees boss Bob Russell was pleased with his side's overall display, but he believed they paid the price for showing too much admiration for Bath in the first period. He said: "I was disappointed with the first half and the goals we conceded. We gave them far too much respect and allowed them to dictate the play. "But we changed to a 3-4-3 in the second half and we stopped trying to compete for who was playing the prettiest football. We picked up a lot of second balls and created three or four chances. "Given the league they play in, there are lots of pluses." The Romans went in front thanks to an audacious effort from close to the half-way line by Jimmy Benefield. A harmless looking free-kick downfield from Bees keeper Martin Peters was redirected towards goal on the half-volley by Benefield - and with one bounce, it was in the net. The Bees gradually found some encouragement with a couple of forward forays, and they had a chance on 17 minutes when Grant Menelle was penalised for a push on the edge of the box. Captain Gary McAuley smashed in the free-kick hard and low, which was diverted into the net by Mark Radcliffe in his final appearance before returning to university. On 25 minutes, City regained the advantage from a penalty after a clever link-up between Jim Rollo and Darren Hawkins drew a foul from Jon Ritchie. Peters produced his second spot-kick save in four days with a fantastic stop down to his right to deny John Williams, but the big striker stroked in the rebound. Bath found joy on the right flank from wher Hawkins broke away to lift the ball calmly over Peters for the third. It could have been more but for another fine stop from Peters, this time diving full-length to his right to parry Steve Tweddle's header around the post. Bath had two breakaway goals disallowed, substitute Reinier Moor should have scored in a one-on-one, Sam Bailey smashed a shot against the bar and Peters made a great save to halt Benefield as the Bees faded. In the dying seconds, former Weymouth striker Scott Partridge got the better of both Lee Clark and Pete Copeland to give Hawkins a simple tap-in for City's fourth.