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).

Moroney Breaks a Record

Moroney takes record breaking to the extreme and breaks his hand so that the 19-20 B Team can hold the record for the number of bone breaks in a season. Three is the unwanted new record but with Big Harris away skiing that total may rise over the weekend.

With the A-Team away and no big Harris the day had a strange feel to it from the off. The bright sunny day was also strange especially bearing in mind that the visitors were Welsh team Bridgend.

Right from the start Gloucester were on the offensive and it was no surprise that they soon took the lead, Ball latching on to a loose pass in defence to fire home into the far bottom corner. A well taken Harris corner gave Badham to knock the ball in from just a few metres out and double the lead. The home side’s superiority was reinforced when the energetic Young made a driving run down the right, fed Butcher who in-turn played in Badham to score his second and Gloucester’s third. Ball hit the post with from the penalty spot before Bridgend had their first meaningful attack of the half. Balkwill saving to his right and after managing to hold on the ball his quick ball out was flicked on by Fogg for Ball to run through and flick the ball round the advancing keeper to give the hosts a four goal lead at the break.

The visitors came out for the second half in a much more determined fashion and began to pressure the home goal. Harris and Evans remained strong at the back and Evans actually used the more advanced positioning of the away side to advantage by bringing the ball out of defence and starting a few attacks. Badham capped a fine personal display by scoring two more quick fire goals, the first a rocket high in to the top corner and the second a low drive into the bottom corner. This re-established Gloucester’s dominance and it was not long before Ball gained his hat-trick after winning possession from a defender and driving the ball past the keeper. Burr continued his shoot on site policy, his sixth attempt went the same way as the other five, just wide. John’s great strike gave the contingent from South Wales something to shout about when he lashed in a long range free kick. The eighth and final Gloucester goal was greeted with the loudest cheer of the day. Keeper Balkwill ran the length of the pitch to smash in a second spot kick high into the roof of the net to score his first of the season, meaning all players have scored this season. A good all-round display gave the home-side a victory by eight goals to one.

Bag packing at Sainsbury’s went well and raised a lot of money towards the end of season tours. Many compliments were received about how polite and well-mannered the boys were. Dylan and Joseph had to put up with one sarky customer who even asked if Joseph would clean her shoes. He request was ignored but Mrs Young still put some money in the coffers anyway. That was the only customer who wanted their help for the first twenty five minutes. Ruben and Jay had similar problems is gaining peoples trust but once they were re-christend Ant and Dec they had no further issues. Caden just talked customers into submission. While Jayden tried to do a runner when his mum turned up at his till. Gethin and Harrison just got on with it and appeared to enjoy the experience. Leo actually spoke up loud and clear, sometimes, and George managed to stay on his feet the whole time. All deserve a lot of credit for the way they represented the GPSFA.

A great day.

Gloucester; G Balkwill, Harris, D Balkwill, Burr, Young, Badham, Fogg, Butcher, Ball, Evans and Moroney (Broken)