Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our readers.    District coaching restarts at OSP on Friday 3rd January (5-6pm) & Monday 6th January (6-7pm).    Saturday 4th January: GPSFA A, B & G v Bexley (Home; 11.00am, 12.15pm & 1.30pm).

Bath B 1-8 Gloucester by Goalsie McGoalserton

Gloucester B travel to an old stomping ground in the shape of Odd-Down, where victory has previously been tasted in the boys' first-ever match together. A repeat effort of that day is requested [after last week's showing in Brummyland] and an improved effort is what we get.

Gloucester take a very early lead when a hit-and-hope clearance by Bath is met by Williamson who hits a first-time low pass to Taylor. The forward goes straight past the defender to find himself one-on-one with the GK and toe-pokes early underneath him for a tidy finish.

Within a minute, Gloucester have doubled their lead - courtesy of Fortey. The scorer himself wins the ball in the centre of the park, decides to run down the wing and beyond the trailing defenders before rolling beneath the GK to cap a fine individual effort.

The Yellow Men continue to pepper the Bath goal and I notice that my head has only been looking towards the right [due to the continuous pressure], so I glance to the left to see how the rest of the team is doing. Sargeant appears to be performing some sort of shaking dance [presumably to keep himself warm in the cold] and Limbrick is motionless, as if at a table drinking a cup of tea, a look of contented wonder upon his face. Meanwhile, at the other end, Taylor is again taking advantage of a poor clearance from the GK to try and chip him from 15 yards - only to find the post in his way.

Bath have a throw-in on the right. Limbrick looks up to see whether he should put his tea down, but decides against it as contentment takes over. The throw comes in and Ansermoz climbs high to head down to Fortey, whose quick pass to Harris leads him to run at the defence. One touch to the left and a swift snap shot catches the defender and GK by surprise and the ball flies in low to make it 3-0.

Ansermoz again breaks up play to provide the start of the fourth goal. Winning the ball, the defender takes it round the oncoming Blue. A quick pass into Fortey sees him repeat a similar move to create space for the shot and another toe-poke under the keeper gives Fortey his brace.

Bath gain a deserved goal after Gloucester start to get complacent in their team play. Like a Meerkat, Limbrick looks up to see that the hosts have piled into the Yellow's half and suddenly decides to be 'present'. Gloucester fail to clear on numerous occasions and Galley is waiting on the edge of the box to smash the ball goalwards. Unfortunately for Sargeant, the ball smashes off the post, onto his back, and in.

After a change of ends, Gloucester appear to pick up again and have a few close efforts to extend their advantage. Harris’s snap shot flashes millimetres wide before Hayes wins the ball on halfway and runs at goal before crossing to Taylor, but the forward’s shot is cleared brilliantly off the line and then pounced upon by the Bath keeper.

Limbrick looks to be deep in thought again, but Coach Harris snaps him out of his trance and asks him politely/sharply to 'play football'. He quickly makes an interception or two and no longer looks as if Septic Peg has hypnotised him.

A clearance from Hayes is brought down by Harris. A few good touches and a lay off to Ansermoz is laid up the line for Speedy Taylor to skip past two defenders and run through on goal before poking in and completing his brace.

Gloucester start missing some clear chances to pull even further ahead. Randall, causing havoc down the right, runs through on goal only to have his shot cleared off the line and the rebound from hat-trick chasing Fortey is well saved. Another cross from Randall finds its way to Williamson in front of goal, but the ball is put wide wide and Randall again finds himself with only the GK to beat, but again the final effort is wide of the mark.

However, it isn't long before the away team score again - Harris bagging his brace in Vardy-esque fashion. A throw in from the left to Harris sees good strength to hold off his defender and flick over his head. Jumping in the air to catch the ball on its way down, Harris dinks the ball perfectly over the GK to make it 6-1 and remind us all of that exquisite goal scored by Vardy last week when Leicester beat Spurs.

More good chances go begging. Hayes [who is yet to score this season and may never score again if this game is anything to go by] has his shooting boots on the wrong feet and sees the GK save both his shots from five yards out. Good work from Thomas passing the ball the ball right, and another cross from Randall finds its way to Williamson in front of goal, but again the effort is wide.

With the luck clearly not with Hayes, his good work to create space and shoot only sees the ball bounce off the crossbar. However, the rebound lands at Randall’s feet, the winger easing round his defender and shooting low into the bottom corner to create more width in the scoring margin.

Randall quickly follows this up to complete his double. A whipped corner from Thomas sees the ball palmed out by the GK, only for Randall to be waiting on the edge of the area with a left-foot half-volleyed effort which flies into the top left corner of the goal.

Good work from Williamson on the left passes into Hayes on the edge of the area. He takes it round a few defenders and looks to shoot. "Uh-oh," are the cries heard from Father Hayes as he knows what's about to happen. And it does. Another shot from several yards out doesn't make it in to the back of the net, but rather hits the woodwork once more and keeps the score at 8-1.

Sometimes you can only play what's in front of you and after the [stern] words given to the boys following recent weeks’ performances (bar Swansea), they definitely tried to respond. Hopefully, the players are starting to realise their potential for this year and will continue to want to be the very best that they can be. Definitely a productive morning's work.

Gloucester: Sargeant; Ansermoz, Thomas, Limbrick, Hayes, Fortey, Williamson, Taylor, Harris; Laverton, Randall.