By Adam Mountain, Sports Co-Deputy Editor
Welcome to Epigram's exclusive coverage of Derby Day 2024/25. From Football and Lacrosse, to Netball and Tennis, here are the stories behind the biggest day for sport at the University. Brought to you by our talented team of writers.
The majorly successful Bristol Derby Day 2025, filled all day with raucous crowds, marked a fitting end to another strong season for UBAFC. Emotions were running high for many as, over two fixtures, the players stepped out onto the hallowed lawns of Coombe Dingle for one last dance. And while results did not go the way the Bristol faithful might have hoped for, the UBAFC players could hold their heads high for how they represented the badge on their last ever outing.
Fixture 1: UBAFC 3-4 UBAFFC
Bath narrowly edged out victorious in a Derby Day classic for the ages. End-to-end from kick-off, the game was not without its fair share of controversy and moments of real quality.
It’s worth quickly pointing out that I was actually playing in this game (admittedly not very well), meaning this report is categorised as one of our ‘Player POV’ articles; an Epigram Sports reader favourite! It also makes my life as a writer slightly harder, given that I have to re-live and articulate the goods and bads of my own performance, and I can confirm that I did not enjoy the write-up of Bath’s third goal.
The game was played at a high intensity from the off. Bath did well to retain the majority of possession in the opening stages of play without creating much by way of early chances. Bristol were very comfortable to sit in a mid-block and counter Bath quickly on the transition, although again being limited to only half-chances.
At the 20-minute mark, with the game still lacking any moment of real quality, the first of several Bristol roll-on roll-off substitutions were made. These, particularly the introduction of Rohan Sahota at striker, proved the catalyst for the game to come to life.
Another five minutes on and a fantastic inswinging Bath corner was met by the centre half at the back post, but he could only clip the bar.
Moments later, the referee halted play for a potential head injury after Max Downey thundered the ball into the Bath striker’s face. Seemingly giving the ball back to Crawford in the Bath goal, James Martin looped the ball over the stationary Bath backline, only for Sahota to controversially run onto it and dink the ball over the goalkeeper.
Bristol accepted this was perhaps not the most sporting action from Sahota, who still looked very pleased with himself, and allowed Hilditch to run to goal from kick-off and score into the empty net for Bath. In a moment worthy of any ‘Top 10 Respect Moments’, the game was bizarrely 1-1.
Now on the ascendency, Bristol should have pulled ahead minutes later, after McKinley Chibambo amazingly put a rebounded header over the bar from barely a few yards out.
However, he quickly rectified his sitter just before half-time, slotting the ball under the goalkeeper following a driving run and tidy pass from Xander Wright. 2-1 Bristol.
For all of their dominance in possession, Bath were unable to test goalkeeper Jack Furse-Cope as they would have liked to, and found themselves losing at half-time to a clinical Bristol side.
Into the second half, and perhaps not taking the game quite as seriously as the opponent, Bristol drastically reshuffled the team again. The new Bristol midfield trio of James Martin, Pedro Sampaio and Alex Skidmore (a goalkeeper by trade) did well to retain possession, and it was Bristol who controlled the tempo in the opening phases of the half.
It was Bath who almost drew next blood, though, as a wide free kick was again met at the back post by the Bath defender, whose looping heading had Furse-Cope rooted, but could only flash onto the bar.
Minutes later Jamie Challis won the ball deep in the Bath final third and played Wright through on goal, only for the attacker to be denied by the quick reflexes of Crawford.
As legs began to look increasingly tired, players on both sides found themselves with a little more space and time on the ball. Bath should have equalised around the 60-minute mark after a fizzed ball across the six-yard box managed to somehow evade everyone.
The visitors continued to enjoy a dominant spell of play, working the ball patiently on the edge of the box before a powerful strike was just about denied by a combination of Furse-Cope and the post.
But Bristol were to make Bath rue their missed opportunities. Charlie Taylor was strong in the tackle against his winger and drove with the ball from his own half. Following a neat one-two with Wright, he continued his surge to the edge of the box and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner to make it 3-1 to Bristol.
Bath responded well to this, showing good fight to remain in a game they should have scored more in. Some good interplay down the left side released the Bath winger, who squared it back across goal for Timutti-Gutierrez to slot into the net and pull the game back to 3-2 Bristol.
Bristol now found themselves penned into their own half against wave after wave of Bath pressure. And this was eventually to pay off for Bath, after their tricky #9 was tripped in the box by none other than myself (I did say this part wasn’t fun). I didn't even bother proclaiming my innocence to the referee – it was a blatant penalty – and truthfully, I was too out of breath anyway. Sending Furse-Cope the wrong way, Vavrick dispatched the penalty with ease to draw the game level.
And with just barely five minutes left on the clock, Bath got the winner that their second half performance deserved. A floated corner was not well defended by Bristol, and Blake was able to rise with little challenge to head the ball into the ground and over the head of Marlon Salgado defending the back post. Turnaround complete and full time: Bristol 3-4 Bath.
Despite the disappointing result, Bristol could take pride in a spirited display. A thrilling end-to-end encounter full of drama marked an ultimately memorable, if bittersweet, final UBAFC appearance.
Fixture 2 – UBAFC 1-5 UBAFFC
A game of two polar opposite halves ended in a frustrating Bristol defeat, who were made to rue not making their early dominance count against a resilient Bath side.
And quickly for those of you who might have been looking forward to now reading a match report slightly less marred by the writer’s conflict of interest, you will be delighted to hear that Epigram’s very own Sports Editor (and my boss), Faniki Deche, was starting at left-wing for the match!
Bristol ran proceedings for much of the first half. The centre-back pairing of Luca Griffiths and Josh Gordon looked assured in possession as the players built up to the pace of the game, while Bath were happy to sit deeper without the ball.
The ever-present Pritchard-Cairns twins were pulling the strings in typical fashion from midfield, with the early half-chances of the game falling to both of them on the edge of the box, although they could only hit their strikes straight at Crodilett in goal.
Bristol should have been 1-0 up after 15 minutes when Matt Greenwood did excellently to work some space down the right and pull the ball back to the penalty spot, only for Josh Pritchard-Cairns to cannon his strike off the post.
Bristol were to keep their foot on Bath’s neck. Josh Pritchard-Cairns’ ball to Jack Bilbruck played the winger through on goal, but he was well denied by the onrushing Crodilett.
It was not until the 36th minute that Bristol finally capitalised on their dominance. Greenwood and J. Pritchard-Cairns once again combined well down the right-hand side, before the latter flashed a dangerous ball across the six-yard box for Ben Spano to finish from a few yards out.
Barely a few minutes later, though, Bath were to make Bristol pay for their missed opportunities. And it was an absolute corker! From at least 30 yards out, Ollie Cook’s free kick rifled into the top corner, leaving Ben Jackson with no chance of saving it and sending the Bath bench into delirium.
Against the run of play, Bath had pulled themselves back into the tie with a wonder strike, and Bristol only had themselves to blame. Half-time: 1-1.
Making several half-time changes, the fresh-faced Bristol and Bath sides were far more evenly competitive in the second half.
The game took a little while to recover to the intensity of the first half. The only noticeable chance in the opening stages was a fantastic volley on the turn from the Bath #16, but he was unable to trouble Jackson in goal.
At 60 minutes Tom Menezes found half a yard on the edge of the box, and his driven strike forced a decent save out of Crodilett to the bottom right corner.
The resulting corner was defended well by Bath, who countered quickly down their left. A brilliantly shaped cross from the left-winger was met on the volley by Ivan Newsome at the back post, whose job was made simple by the sheer quality of the assist. 2-1 Bath.
Things were to go from bad to worse for Bristol barely a minute later. Caught in possession in their own third, Bristol were making life difficult for themselves. Josh Gordon did his best to recover into position but inadvertently brought Newsome down in the box. Up stepped Stan Dickenson, who slotted his penalty away with ease to make it 3-1 to Bath.
Bristol manager Alan Tyers cut an extremely frustrated figure on the touchline, and threw a final roll of the dice with a number of further substitutions (although, similarly to the first match, there were some noticeably oddly-positioned players perhaps searching for a first ever Bristol goal).
This may well have sealed Bristol’s fate, who were left increasingly exposed at the back in search of a goal. At 75 minutes a scrappy exchange in the Bristol box saw the ball strike a defender on the arm. The referee immediately blew for the game’s second penalty (much to the outrage of the Bristol support), which Harry Edwards cooly dispatched to the bottom left.
And to compile Bristol’s misery after a disastrous 15 minutes, Bath made it 5-1 in the 77th minute. A floated pass into the Bristol box was not properly dealt with, and Josh Burkitt was first to the loose ball, making no mistake with a venomous strike off the underside of the bar
In the space of a short second half blitz, Bath had absolutely blown away a Bristol side haunted by their first half misses, and should have been comfortably ahead at half-time. It marked a Derby Day double for Bath Men’s Football, who no doubt went home and enjoyed an absolutely raucous night out on the town, if such a thing exists.
As for the UBAFC class of ’25, the scorelines on Derby Day didn’t quite provide the fairytale ending many of us had hoped for. That being said, the players can take pride in a university career filled with passion and genuine camaraderie, and the boys can wholly say they represented the club with full commitment – none more so than Club Captain, Tom Flint. As the class of ‘25 hang up their boots, their contributions to the club will become the stuff of folklore and certainly worthy of any White Bear match chat.
What next for the future of UBAFC?
