After the unbeaten streak collapsed against Havant and Waterlooville in our last outing, it was important to pick ourselves up and get back to our winning ways.

We did exactly that with a commanding performance, which allowed us to take all three points away to Bath City in a 3-1 victory on Saturday.

The home side started the game only 6 points behind with two games in hand, making the clash an important match if we wished to remain in second place.

Suspensions and injuries meant we had a depleted squad for the game as five key players missed out. Adrian Santiago, Reece Fleet and Dave King all missed the game as they served a match ban, whilst Bradley Bubb and Ander Del Alamo remained unavailable due to injuries.

This gave opportunities to Carlos Pifarre, Declan Benjamin and Paul Stonehouse to impress in the starting XI.

Captain Darren Pond played alongside Mamadou Fofona in midfield while Omari Sterling-James was given a free role behind Connor McDonagh.

Before kick off, a minute silence was observed for the victims of the French terrorist attacks in Paris the night before and it wasn’t long before the 600 Bath fans were silent again as we opened the scoring.

Twelve minutes into the game, Sterling-James whipped a free kick into the area and McDonagh did brilliantly to powerfully guide a header into the bottom corner to make it 1-0.

Driving to Bath through the wind and the rain, the weather wasn’t all that appealing to play in. Thankfully, the rain settled and the condition of the pitch was excellent as we dominated the first half and extended our lead.

With 24 minutes on the clock, Pond added his name on to the score sheet. Sterling-James was influential again as he turned on the ball before unleashing a shot from 25 yards out. The Bath City goalkeeper was only able to parry the dipping shot as our skipper ran in to stroke the rebound into the back of the net.

Despite the numerous changes to our starting line up, the home side caused us few problems as we cruised to the half time whistle with a two-goal lead.

On the official Bath City Website, their match report stated that we were the best team they have faced this season, a compliment we are always pleased to hear.

To make sure, we scored a third goal within the opening 5 minutes of the second half.

A short corner led to the ball being set up for Pifarre. He welcomed the opportunity to smash the ball into the bottom corner.

With a dominating score line, Kalam Patterson and Amer Awadh from the development side came on as second half substitutes to give them a taste of first team football.

Despite a brilliant performance, the game was slightly soured by a lack of concentration in the 92nd minute.

A corner allowed the Bath City striker to grab a consolation goal and ruin the clean sheet that we had worked so hard for.

Nevertheless, this important away victory that keeps us second in the table and starts our next unbeaten streak with a win.

Tomorrow, we return home to face Gosport Borough as we look to win back-to-back games.