SHOLING 0 PAULTON ROVERS 0

Bath City will have to wait to see who they face in the first round proper of the Buildbase FA Trophy, as Paulton battled to a goal-less draw at Sholing.

The hosts had an early shot by Lee Wort and the follow-up header from Stuart Green was headed wide. Rovers had a neat move started by Ed Butcher to Brad Abrahams, with Nuno Felix firing wide. Green then tried to lob visiting keeper, Joe Perry, and Rovers’ response saw stopper, Ryan Gosney, do a low Butcher drive, who then had a volley diverted for the corner. Alex Sawyer headed wide from Brad Targett’s corner and then was through, failing to lob Perry.

Sholing came out all guns blazing in the second half, with Sawyer again heading over then shooting off target. Felix brought another fine save from Gosney, who then held a firm shot from Braeden Symes.

Sholing piled on the pressure, with Dan Mason, Green and Sawyer missing chances, which nearly cost them.

An unusually quiet Ben Bament, put through by Symes, saw his goal-bound effort turned away by the alert Gosney. Ten minutes from time, Butcher got around his marker and as he bore down, the keeper appeared to be brought down. The referee adjudged that he had dived, with Butcher shown a yellow card.

In a final flurry, Rovers’ defence, led by Captain, Charlie Hitchings, assisted by Craig Allan, Joe Hillard and Felix, held firm and were thankful of young substitute, Dan Dempsey’s last-ditch tackle to stop Dan Mason.

Tony Walsh