Half term tours v Newbury, Portsmouth, Bassetlaw & Derby
by Jaffa Cake

Gloucester's A Squad returned from their half term tour to the Isle of Wight, having secured a brace of fine victories over Newbury and Portsmouth. In their opening game at Woolton Hill, the city midfield trio of Walker, Ashman and Assheton consistently won and used the ball well, while Stock and Jones gave the team plenty of width. With defences largely on top, clear chances were at a premium, but when Sutherland's lay-off found Ashman, the midfielder's fine pass was very well finished by Bird on 20 minutes. Newbury almost equalised on the stroke of half time, Mosson escaping his marker only for Hawkins to clear off the line before Welsh grabbed the follow up attempt. Eight minutes after the interval Gloucester extended their lead, Vallender finding Ashman who in turn set Sutherland clear to finish confidently. Goode, Vallender and Hawkins again looked solid in the centre of the city defence, preventing Newbury from getting any direct efforts on goal during the second period, while at the other end Ashman's effort was scrambled away shortly before the final whistle as Gloucester almost added a third. After a day and a half spent at the likes of Alum Bay, Blackgang Chine and Robin Hill Country Park and an early Saturday morning ferry back to the mainland, Gloucester took on Portsmouth in their third Berkshire League game at Moneyfields. With only eleven fit - but tired - players, the city side struggled to make any real impact on the early stages of the game, with Stock, who had made great ground up the right before firing wide following Bird's cross, going closest for the visitors. Portsmouth made most of the early running and after a last-ditch clearance by Ashman prevented the hosts taking an 18th minute lead, Gloucester fell behind five minutes later as Evans forced his way through the middle of the city defence to fire Pompey into the lead. Importantly, the visitors remained solid in the period up to and immediately after the interval and parity was restored nine minutes into the second period. Walker clipped a free kick beyond the Portsmouth defence for Sutherland to get in front of his defender before finding the far corner with a well struck effort. Welsh then touched Poulter's effort round the post as Pompey responded, but it was Gloucester who forged ahead, another Walker free kick was not cleared by the home defence and Ashman squeezed home the loose ball for his first goal of the season. With Sutherland and Bird now laying the ball off to far better effect Gloucester almost scored again, the pair combining well to create an opportunity for the industrious Assheton, but the keeper saved well on this occasion. A third goal was not long in arriving however, Walker completing a hat trick of assists with a very well delivered corner that was headed home by Sutherland at the near post. Goode, Hawkins and Vallender were kept busy as the homesters refused to give up and with Jones and Stock working very effectively to stem the threat posed by Pompey's wide players, Gloucester saw out the remaining minutes to complete a victory that all the players had worked extremely hard to achieve. Gloucester A: Welsh; Stock, Vallender, Hawkins, Goode, Jones; Walker, Ashman, Assheton; Bird, Sutherland. Physio: Nutting. The City B Squad fared less well on their visit to the East Midlands however, going down to heavy defeats at both Bassetlaw and Derby. The home side took an early lead at Harworth, only for Robbie to play in Dada-Grieve for an immediate equaliser. However two more strikes put Bassetlaw 3-1 up at the interval, and despite the best efforts of centre back Wood and midfielder Thompson in particular, the hosts added four more without reply to complete a decisive victory. The next day Gloucester turned in a second below-par performance, going down 5-0 to Derby before visting the Ricoh Arena to watch Reading defeat Coventry City 3-1 in the afternoon. Gloucester B: Sargent; Stock, Wood, Carr, Staddon, Webb, Thompson, D.Hayes, M.Hayes, Robbie, Simmonds, Dada-Grieve, Dodd. Both squads have a break next week due to the grammar school entrance exams taking place on Saturday morning, before returning to action on 14th November with home matches against Brent (A) and Bath (B).