Stock: Bath nightmare is behind us

The Westleigh Park side suffered a 5-0 drubbing at Twerton Park last month but have bounced back with a win and a draw in the past seven days.

But satisfying as the 4-0 home win over Eastbourne Borough was on Bank Holiday Monday, Stock rates the 2-2 draw at Chelmsford on Saturday as more important.

‘At Chelmsford we trailed by two goals at half-time, which was the same situation we faced at Bath,’ said Stock.

‘This time, though, we reacted in the right way.

‘At Bath we didn’t react to disappointment very well and it is never good when it feels like you have thrown in the towel.

‘That performance hurt me and all the players involved.

‘By fighting back to earn a 2-2 draw at Chelmsford we feel that we have now put the Bath experience to bed.

‘Hopefully, that will be the wake-up call for all of us.’

The Hawks have definitely played with greater energy and commitment in their past two games.

Suddenly they look to possess a greater threat going forward and Stock showed at Chelmsford that he, too, can be a potent attacking force.

He notched his first goal of the season to get the visitors back on terms with a sweet strike midway through the second half.

Harry Medway and Matt Paterson combined to set Stock up from 25 yards out and he gave the home goalkeeper little chance with a sweet strike.

‘It is always nice to get on the scoresheet,’ added Stock.

‘When the ball was laid back to me I thought I’d try my luck and fortunately it went in.

‘The most pleasing thing, though, was the way we hit back to earn a point.

‘Preparations before the game had not been the best because the tyre on the team coach blew out on the motorway.

‘We spent an hour-and-a-half hanging around on the hard shoulder waiting for the tyre to be changed.

‘It would have been so easy to use that as an excuse for getting beat but we weren’t prepared to do that.

‘I think it could be the turning point of the season.’