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Was this a match won and lost in the front rooms of the two managers? In their post-match interviews, both Dean Saunders and Adie Britton mentioned the homework they'd done before the game, watching their opponents's recent games on DVD, but by the look of it, Saunders drew the more worthwhile conclusions.

While he decided to give Curtis Obeng a game partly because he felt his long throw would trouble Bath, which it did both before and after he set up the first goal with it, Britton's lop-sided formation, if it was devised having watched Wrexham and perceived some weakness, was an unmitigated disaster.

Having previously switched between 4-4-2 and 4-5-1 this season, Britton unleashed a peculiar shape in this game. He clearly wanted to occupy Wrexham’s shaky defence with two strikers and match them up with three men in midfield, but that clearly meant a sacrifice had to be made somewhere else on the pitch. He did this by playing with a man on the left but no-one on the right. Perhaps he’d hoped to drag Andy Mangan back from the advanced right-sided position he’d occupied in the last two games, or hoped to pen Declan Walker back. If so, both theories were a waste of time as neither player played.

Instead, the main consequence of his tactical surprise was to give Wrexham a spare man on their left, something Neil Ashton took full advantage of, consistently taking up attacking positions high up the pitch and linking well with Nat Knight-Percival, who pushed up onto the outnumbered full back to

The starting line-ups

occupy him.

By the time Britton made a change Wrexham had won a succession of corners and throws from their extra man, as well as swinging a number of crosses in from that side. One of those throws led to the opening goal, as Saunders had hoped, while an earlier one led to a penalty shout which, on watching the replay on Sgorio, looked valid.

The change, when it belatedly came on thirty-five minutes, didn’t solve the problem either; it merely displaced it. Britton switched his left-sided midfielder, Mackie, over to the other side to stop Ashton’s forward progress. He succeeded in this, but all he’d actually done was created a gap on the other flank, allowing Obeng plenty of opportunity to tear forward on the right and create the same problem.

This sort of formation can work, as Wrexham fans should know better than most: Brian Flynn used it for

No, there’s no-one behind the pillar!

As Adam Connolly strives to get across, Ashton is in plenty of space. Bath’s failure to have a midfielder on the right meant Ashton was able to constantly get high up the pitch and cause City all sorts of problems in combination with Nat Knight-Percival, who enjoyed his most effective game since his debut on the first day of the season.

years to good effect, with Karl Connolly on the left and nobody on the right. However, the central midfielders had clear instructions to keep the shape of the team balanced; it didn’t look like Bath had had time to do that, and they suffered as a result.

Britton finally solved the problem at half time, tucking Mackie into the hole behind the strikers, but by then the horse had bolted.

Midfield Shape.

Smith (blue) sits in behind Harris and Keates (red), allowing them to focus on getting up the pitch, both to create and press.

Another tactical decision Saunders got right was his use of Christian Smith in a more withdrawn position than usual. Saunders has clung keenly onto the idea that Smith should best be utilised as a midfielder with free rein to go forward, but he clearly has the attributes required to sit in front of the back four, and he did the job particularly efficiently at Bath, offering Dean Keates and Jay Harris plenty of scope to get up the pitch and cause problems for Bath.

Overall, Saunders’ 100th game was something of a triumph for him. His side looked balanced and certainly out-manoeuvred the opposition in a comprehensive and desperately needed victory. The question is whether he can match this performance against tougher opposition on Sunday.