Bath City v Port Vale preview – will new faces feature in friendly game?

The latest friendly match may see recent signings George Byers and Ruiri Paton feature for Darren Moore’s side.

The Valiants are already well into a busy schedule of friendly games and will take part in this match after a team bonding session in Wales. So far, the Valiants senior side has beaten Kidsgrove Athletic and Newcastle Town but lost to Coventry City in a behind closed doors friendly. A Vale youth team also narrowly lost to Leek Town in mid-week.

Since the Coventry City defeat, the Valiants have made several changes to their team. Out have gone Ryan Loft and Alex Iacovitti while in have come George Byers and Ruiri Paton with both set to play some part in the weekend’s fixture.

Still to come for the Valiants are fixtures against Burton Albion, a Luton Town XI and Bolton Wanderers with the latter two taking place at Vale Park.

In other news, midfielder Ben Garrity has been named as the club’s player of the season for 2023-24.

The opposition – Bath City

Last game

Bath City’s last game was a narrow 1-0 loss to former tenants Bristol Rovers. There were 1,908 supporters present to see Chris Martin score an 81st minute winner for the visitors.

Meet (some of) the players

• Local lad Harvey Wiles-Richards could line up in goal
• Attacking midfielder Sol Wanjae-Smith joined from Maidstone
• Kieran Parselle is usually the team’s captain
• Striker Scott Wilson has had spells with several Football League clubs
• Forward Cody Cooke has a very impressive scoring rate with 55 goals in 130 appearances for the club

Meet the man in charge

Former Bath City player Jerry Gill was appointed manager in 2017 after a previous managerial spell with Weymouth. Gill had a long playing career with the likes of Forest Green Rovers, Yeovil Town and in the Football League with Birmingham City and Northampton Town. He has been in charge of Bath for nearly 300 games with a 43% win ratio.

Connections

There’s no players in the current squads who have played for the opposition. However, there are quite a few well-known names to play for both clubs over the years. The first is Chris Lines, who had a two year stint with the Valiants between 2013 and 2015. Lines moved on to Bristol Rovers and finished his playing career with a two year spell at Bath, retiring at the end of last season.

There’s also full-back Callum Evans who moved onto Bath after a one year stay with the Valiants in 2019. Slightly further back is Sean Rigg. Rigg spent three years with Vale between 2009 and 2012 and like Lines, had a spell at Bath City before retiring.

Other players to appear for both sides include Kurtis Guthrie, Kaid Mohamed and Sam Foley.

Last time we visited

The two clubs have never met in a competitive fixture. However, the Valiants were regular visitors to Twerton Park during Bristol Rovers’ tenancy. Perhaps the most memorable visit was the first-leg of the 1989 promotion play-off final. That game ended 1-1 with Robbie Earle scoring for the Vale.

The second-leg at Vale Park saw Earle score again (his fourth goal against Rovers that season) to secure promotion to the second tier. You can watch highlights of both games below(taken from our YouTube channel):

Opinion and quiz

Want to discuss things before, during and after the game? Our forum’s dedicated match thread is the place to be. Share your views with fellow fans –

Pre-season games match thread

Have you been paying attention? Here’s our traditional preview quiz

• Who is the current Bath City manager?
• What was the result in their last game?
• In which league does the club play?

(answers below – no cheating)

Quiz answers

1. Jerry Gill
2. Bath City 0-1 Bristol Rovers
3. National League South