Hayes and Yeading United battled hard for a vital point in their quest to remain in the Conference South, although they had to defend resolutely and survive a second half rally from a well organised Bath City.
It took a long time for either side to get going although Bath did enjoy a lot of possession and did most of the probing. They had a number of ambitious long shots which were blocked, but in the main, the United defence held them comfortably at bay. Attacking wise, United had Luke Williams doing a lot of the link play and he advanced menacingly early on only to shoot well over the bar.
The first close effort on goal didn't materialise until the 28th minute, when the home side advanced down the left through Naby Diallo's and his dangerous cross was headed just over by Andy Watkins. After such a long wait, it was rather ironic that City went close again soon afterwards, Ross Stearn powering a free kick just over the bar. As they were beginning to get into their stride, Stearn worked some space on the right flank and crossed deep to former United player Phil Walsh, but Dean Inman put just enough pressure on him to force him into powering his header just wide.
It wasn't all one way traffic, although United were finding their chances limited as the midfield tends to sit in. One of those midfielders, Lewis Ferrell, did fire another shot from long range following forceful wing play from Greg Morgan but again, the ball flew over the bar.
United started the second half in a slightly more assertive way and once their pressure on the ball forced a mistake from full back Dan Bowman, Morgan collected the loose ball but had his shot charged down. Similar forceful pressure created another chance for Dominic Green who bore down on goal but had his shot deflected wide by a lunging recovery tackle.
At this point, Bath were struggling to retain the ball but they had a great chance on 64 minutes when out of the blue a deep Ashley Kington cross found the head of David Pratt, who despite being in a lot of space, placed his header across goal and wide. This stirred the hosts into life and they seized upon a loose pass and worked the ball to Watkins who crashed a shot against the bar. The ball was worked back into the area and Watkins headed the ball towards goal but straight at Grant Smith in the United goal.
Bath continued to gain momentum. Pratt's snapshot was very bravely blocked by Ferrell and as they retained possession, Chas Hemmings hit a dipping volley which just cleared the crossbar. As play entered the closing stages, Ross Stearn stung the fingertips of Smith, but despite having to soak up this pressure, the United side worked hard to battle for their draw.
Report by Nick Bell.
United Man of the Match: Dean Inman.