Jerry Gill commended his Bath City players on a "breathtaking" display of football in their 5-0 crushing of Chippenham Town in the A4 derby.

The game was essentially over as a contest after 33 minutes as the Romans rocketed into a 4-0 lead as Anthony Straker's penalty and a Robbie Cundy goal sandwiched Ross Stearn's brace.

Adam Mann notched the fifth after the interval to complete an emphatic rout.

City retained their 3-5-2 formation from the weekend's defeat of Weston-super-Mare and improved on the high they finished with on the Somerset coast, as Gill was left purring at his side's display.

"All the credit goes to the players," he said. "They've been so professional through the Christmas campaign. That was a team that did things right through Christmas.

"It was physically that they pressed, they harried, they swarmed around any Chippenham player in possession and that set the tone early in the game.

"The quality was just breathtaking to watch. I thought some of the patterns, some of the movements were just superb.

"The system worked, people who say to me it's five at the back, it's not, it's three at the back and we have lots of rotations, two at the top.

"They're the ones that do it, not us. Tonight, that's a really good performance against a team that thought they could come here and maybe get on top of us a little bit physically, we never allowed them at any point."

Anthony Straker celebrates opening the scoring in Bath City's rout of Chippenham Town

The result - witnessed by a Twerton Park record National League South crowd of 1,727 - pushed City back into the play-off spots.

Their dominance from the first goal onwards never gave Chippenham a sniff.

"We moved them, we kept moving them," Gill said. "We knew physically were were better than them, so I said if we moved the ball on this big pitch that they wouldn't be able to cope with it and they couldn't.

"We were pushing their wing-backs back. Mark [Collier, Chippenham manager], fair play to him, has changed his system at half-time and tried to block it out a little bit in the middle of the park, which worked to a certain extent for them.

"That's just one of the most convincing wins I've seen or been in charge of for any team on any given day.

"I'm so, so proud of everyone and proud of the football club for the attendance today. Proud of the players and all the staff for what they've given me in 2018 as well, and that starts off 2019 in the right tone.

"We've gone into fifth with a game in hand on a few at the top there, so what we've done now is put ourselves in a good position to push again in the start of the new year."

Michee Efete pulls away from former Roman Jack Compton
Michee Efete pulls away from former Roman Jack Compton

Gill added: "The biggest compliment I can pay is when we scored or at the end when the game's finished, all the players were down here – the injured players, the ones who have been left out – and that's a compliment to all the players we've got in this squad and at this football club.

"We're together as a team. I thank everyone for turning up and watching us today and hopefully they see that we're a progressive team trying to do things."

Not only are City now fifth, they boast a game in hand on each of the two teams above them.

That rise up a packed National League South play-off chasing pack came on the back of ten points in 11 days over the festive period, with the wins over Chippenham and Weston following a triumph over Chelmsford City and a stirring fightback to draw from 2-0 down in the reverse A4 derby fixture.

"Each to a man they were all at it and we sensed it before, we sensed it before Christmas," Gill said.

"I'm so proud of everyone at the football club for that today. We've put on a real show and it sends out a message.

"We've won nothing, I won't get carried away, but you have to enjoy it, these moments.

"But it's important now that we get our training right this week; recoveries have to be right and get ready to go again on Saturday."

Adam Mann comes close from a tight angle, but would go on to net later in the game

Among the bumper crowd was American Jesse Stollings and his wife Kelly, who travelled 4,000 miles to attend the game having fallen for the club playing PC game Football Manager.

The two City bosses - real and virtual - got together for a pre-match meeting.

"I tweeted them because I saw that they'd come across, so I invited them in to meet me and the staff before the game at 1.30," Gill said. "They've been in the dressing room and met all the players.

"It's important that people recognise that as well. We're a club that don't hide what we're doing, there's a lot of clarity in the football club whether it's from my side with the football or the business side.

"We're really clear on where we want to go and what our vision is.

"It's nice to share the football with someone from America, because he's a really enthusiastic supporter, he's on Football Manager trying to take my job he's telling me, and they're a really nice couple, it was really nice to meet them.

"That's made their day as well, so it's something special and really nice to give to someone who has come 4,000 miles, a 5-0 win and a performance like that."

American fan Jesse Stollings attended his first Bath City game with wife Kelly

The Stollings were not the only VIP guests at Twerton Park.

Gill added: "There were a few special people, Adie Mings was here as well actually and he's a good friend of mine, John Freegard was here and shook my hand before the final whistle.

"These are really good people that have been involved at the football club and I've played with.

"They'll enjoy that win as well and hopefully that's what we do; we want to make people happy.

"Sometimes we do it in the way we play and hopefully we get the results with it, and that's what we're trying to do."