Match preview: Bath City v York City (From York Press)

Match preview: Bath City v York City

11:30am Tuesday 27th March 2012 in Sport By Dave Flett , Sports reporter

DOOMED Bath City are expected to call upon the services of a striker who has not scored a goal all season for tonight’s home game against York City.

Jamie Cook arrived at Twerton Park in the summer, having just won a Blue Square Bet Premier championship winners’ medal with Crawley Town.

But, in 23 games for the bottom-of-the-table Somerset side, he has yet to find the net.

Unsurprisingly, considering his record, Cook has been left out of the starting line-up in recent times but is poised to lead the line this evening as the lone central striker in Adie Britton’s 4-5-1 formation with nine-goal top scorer Sean Canham expected to be sidelined by a hamstring injury.

Britton is also likely to make other changes from the side that went down 4-0 at fellow strugglers Stockport on Saturday when the Romans suffered their 11th defeat in 13 fixtures.

Midfielder Dan Smith, recently recruited from Truro, is expected to be given his full debut at the expense of 37-year-old veteran Scott Murray.

Sekani Simpson could also return at right-back after recovering from the hamstring problem that has kept him inactive for a month.

Part-time Bath, who finished tenth last season, have struggled to adapt to last summer’s twin departures of Sido Jombati and Kaid Mohamed for Cheltenham and are currently anchored to the basement of the table 11 points from safety.

Britton’s team have only won five league matches all season and have been tasked with claiming the same amount of victories in their final seven fixtures for any hope of beating the drop.

The Romans are also yet to beat a side currently in the top half of the Blue Square Bet Premier table this season with their triumphs coming against Lincoln (2-1), Barrow (1-0), Newport (3-2), Telford (3-1) and Darlington (2-0).

A total of 34 goals scored represents the worst return in the division, as does a home record of just 16 points from a possible 57.

Bath have also managed just two clean sheets from their 39 league games.

Team (probable): Garner, Simpson, Preece, Jones, Gallinagh, Smith, Connolly, M Canham, Burnell, Hogg, Cook.

Match facts

YORK City met Bath City for the first time last season and the game at Twerton Park ended in a 2-2 draw with Michael Gash and Peter Till on the scoresheet.

The line-up on August 21, 2010, was: Ingham, Parslow, McGurk, Sangare, Meredith, Lawless, Barrett (Till), Carruthers (McDermott), Rankine (J Smith), Gash, Brodie.

It happened on March 27

1959: A Bootham Crescent crowd of 10,278 saw a Good Friday fixture against Workington finish 2-2 with Norman Wilkinson and Peter Wragg the scorers. City were in the top four of Division Four.

1964: A 1-0 home win over Chester with John Scott the scorer from the penalty spot. The crowd was 4,437 and the club were in the bottom four of the Fourth Division.<

1970: A 3-0 Good Friday victory over Peterborough United with Phil Boyer (2) and Paul Aimson on the scoresheet watched by 3,153. City were mid-table in Division Four.

1971: City moved into the top four of the Fourth Division with a 4-1 home win over Northampton Town in front of 7,089. On target were Kevin McMahon (2), Paul Aimson and Barry Swallow and it was the 11th game without defeat.

1974: Chris Jones, Jimmy Seal and Ian Holmes netted in a 3-1 win at Bournemouth and City were second in the Third Division (League One).

1984: City stretched their lead at the top of the Fourth Division when they recorded their fifth straight win with a 2-0 success at Rochdale. John Byrne scored both goals.

1989: An Easter Monday Bootham Crescent crowd of 4,872 saw a Fourth Division encounter with Scarborough finish goalless.

2007: City lost at home to Stevenage Borough 1-0 in front of 2,969 and were fourth in the Conference.

Compiled by David Batters