Truro City kept hold of their National League South play-off place after being held to a goalless draw by an ever-improving Bath City.
In a game of few chances, Truro had the best of those with Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain drawing a fine save from visiting custodian Harvey Wiles-Richards during the opening period.
And after half time, Jaze Kabia fired a free-kick narrowly past the upright with Bath offering very little in an attacking sense.
Home boss John Askey made two changes to the side which went down 3-0 to Hemel Hempstead Town in their last outing. Oxlade-Chamberlain, who signed a loan deal to remain with City until the end of the season yesterday, returned after shaking off a groin injury.
He replaced Sam Sanders, who is set for a spell on the sidelines after suffering a broken rib in the side’s Hertfordshire reverse.
In midfield Dan Rooney, fully recovered from an ankle problem, took the place of Manny Maja who dropped to the bench. The Aldershot loanee was joined by leading scorer Tyler Harvey, who has been suffering from a hamstring strain and didn’t travel to Hemel last weekend.
City started well in typically windy conditions at the TCS and Oxlade-Chamberlain almost broke the deadlock after 13 minutes. Neat play down the right hand side saw the rangy defender in on goal, but his powerful effort was beaten away by Wiles-Richards.
Shortly after, Andrew Neal’s eyes lit up in the six yard box when the ball fell over his head and with just Wiles-Richards to beat, defender Joe Raynes appeared from nowhere to hack the ball over the crossbar.
After that promising opening, the game became very scrappy with the only remaining incident of note in the first half coming after 30 minutes.
Jaze Kabia got the wrong side of one-time Tinner Ollie Tomlinson and was bundled to the ground.
The offence took place right on the edge of the Bath box and when the whistle blew, Tomlinson must have feared the worst – either he was going to be sent off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, or giveaway a penalty.
However another bumper four-figure crowd were left frustrated as Kabia was booked for simulation, even though contact appeared obvious and intentional from Plymouth Argyle graduate Tomlinson, on loan to Bath from Torquay United.
At the other end, captain Kieran Parselle fired wide when well placed in the box, with this Bath’s only effort of note during the entire 90 minutes.
The second half started like the first with City on the front foot and with Kabia bundled over on the edge of the box, Parselle was penalised and booked. Kabia fired just wide from the resulting set piece.
Just after the hour mark, Ben Adelsbury was forced off with a thigh problem, replaced by Dom Johnson-Fisher as City reverted to a flat back four. And the former Whitehawk flyer nearly made an instant impact as he raced onto Oxlade-Chamberlain’s through ball, before a heavy touch let the Romans off the hook.
As the second stanza wore on, Bath were content to sit deep and play on the break, with Truro unable to seriously test a staunch rearguard and for once, there were no late TCS goals and the spoils shared.
Match Facts
Truro: Lavercombe, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Addelsbury (Johnson-Fisher, 61), Harrison, Bell, En-Neyah, Palfrey, Rooney, Riley-Lowe, Kabia, Neal (Harvey, 71). Subs not used: Bates, Roberts, Maja.
Bath City: Wiles-Richards, Raynes, Parselle (Batten, 86),Tomlinson, Greensalde, Clark (Ash, 65), Tilson, Russe, Alves, Fisher (Wilson, 65), Beardmore (Frear, 65). Sub not used: Horsell.
Referee: Philip Eddie
Attendance: 1573
