Tim was a great person for blurring the lines between opposing teams and maybe we should all learn from this. We give each other (mostly friendly) gip throughout the year but all come together at times of tragedy. It's a bit like rugby itself, play hard on the field but buy your fiercest opponent a drink off it! It will be difficult for those of us who only knew Tim through Sportnetwork to fully appreciate this loss until we realise the voice of reason has been silent for too long. 

If Bath's injury crisis wasn't bad enough, recently losing Lipman, Barnes and Beattie alongside the previous horde of injured players, Olly Barkley pulled out after Friday's captain's run with a calf injury and he was joined on the sidelines by Andrew Higgins. Raw youngsters Ryan Davis and Tom Cheeseman were drafted in with new recruit, Ramiro Pez, and youngster Nick Abendanon joining the bench squad. Only, recently returned, Matt Perry was recognisable as a starting three-quarter for Bath. It was therefore always going to be a gameplan based on the Bath pack taking on the whole of Glawster.

The early part of the game was dominated by Glawster but it took almost 15 minutes for their Premiership hardened backs to out-strip their inexperienced opponents. Henry Paul made a break and passed to Fanolua who inter-passed with Kiole before giving the ball back to Fanolua for the opening try of the match.

But Glawster struggled to take advantage of this early score and it was Bath who started to enjoy possession and pressure with Geraint Lewis twice taking up the mantle of Andy Beattie, charging at the Glawster line to pick up blue, black and white collective heartbeats. Finally Bath got an opportunity to reduce the score with Glawster off-side close to their line. Borthwick bravely opted for a line-out instead of 3 points and it paid off as James Scaysbrook jumped through the Glawster defence to equalise. Malone's kick was sure giving Bath a 5-7 lead with just a few minutes to go.

Bath were unlucky to immediately concede the lead after Gomarsall's pass hit a retreating Chris Malone to offer Henry Paul the chance to re-take the lead 8-7. However Paul himself gave away a penalty on the Glawster twenty-two in front of the posts: 8-10 right on half-time. 

An early Henry Paul penalty regained the lead for the home side 11-10 to elicit a small cry of "Glaaawster" from The Shed, even the locals were not confident their out of form team could hang on to the slender lead. And they were right to be worried as within two minutes Chris Malone's drop goal attempt was not far from its target and then Malone had a successful shot at goal from 45 metres to take the game to 11-13. A moment later Henry Paul had a chance to regain the lead for Glawster but the ball drifted wide.

Glawster started to step up the pace and attacked the Bath line before getting a penalty chance in front of the posts for Bath slowing the game: 14-13 with less than 20 minutes to go. Bath immediately responded with an attack from Chris Malone and he was stopped from scoring at the foot of the posts illegally by Glawster hooker Davies, who was then sent off. Surely if he was sent off for illegally preventing a score it should have been a penalty try! 14-16 to Bath.

Bath then took advantage of the extra man in the forwards and attacked the Glawster line but unfortunately Duncan Bell dropped the ball when he could have crossed the line. Grewcock was then held up on the line after he sneaked up the blind side from a Bath lineout as the visitors kept the Cherry and Whites on the back foot. Glawster managed to clear their lines and then got a penalty on half-way but Henry Paul snatched at the kick to leave the score at 14-16.

Rob Fidler replaced Danny Grewcock, with three minutes left, to a collective booing from the home side, perhaps as much aimed at their own performance as their ex-player.

Bath had another opportunity to score but were penalised on the Glawster line. A clearance kick took the home side up-field in to range and, three minutes in to injury time, Glawster snatched a 17-16 win with a drop-goal from Brad Davis and The Shed finally found their voices. Heartbreaking! This was really a game we should have won. So many chances on the Glawster try line not taken - disappointing.

Nevertheless, well played the Bath youngsters, take heart from such a close call and enjoy the experience. One has to give the moral victory to the Bath team - away at Glaws and with an injury ravaged side.

This was the first of a "double-header" between the old foe, with the Cup semi-final just a couple of weeks away. Does this Premiership game give an indication for who will be trotting out at Twickenham in April? One thing is for sure, it'll be close.

Glawster: Goodridge; Garvey, Simpson-Daniel, Fanolua, Kiole, Paul, Gomarsall; Wood, Davies, Vickery (capt); Eustace, Brown, Forrester, Hazell, Balding.
Replacements: Curnier, Sigley, Cornwell, Buxton, Merriman, Page, Bailey.

Bath: Perry, Williams, Cheeseman, Davis, Maddock, Malone, Walshe, Stevens, Mears, Bell, Borthwick (capt), Grewcock, Lewis, Scaysbrook, Fea'unati.
Replacements: Humphreys, Delve, Fidler, Wood, Pez, Abendanon.

In memory of Tim "Moz" Morris, who would have been proud of our youngsters today.

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