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).

Gloucester B 5-0 Bath B by Wix Eehoo

Early Saturday morning, Bath seemed the operative word in that not only were they the day's visitors, but the city was left feeling as if it had been plunged into such a thing – and after 60 minutes’ action, the players emerged from the game some four stone heavier due to the kit accumulation of water.

After both teams had made their way to the emergency pitch at Oxtalls, the game finally got underway and Gloucester began with a good intensity about their play. Early chances came and went, but it was Weatherley who came closest to breaking the deadlock when a fine piece of skill on the left hand side opened a yard of space to shoot, his curling effort towards the top corner being kept out only by the upright.

Gloucester continued to push for the lead with Weatherley again missing the net by inches and Knight's quick volley going just wide of the post. However the deadlock was broken when Weatherley pressurised the Bath keeper, leading to a spill in the box with Butcher tucking away the loose ball.

The lead was soon doubled when Knight brought the ball down to feed through to Sutherland who calmly slotted around the keeper to give the home team a two-goal advantage at half time.

Despite the gale force winds now against us, the second half proved slightly more fruitful than the first. Gloucester again started strongly, keeping the ball on the deck. Sutherland laid the ball off to Mason down the left for the midfielder to dance past the oncoming defenders, drive into the box and smash home his third score of the season.

With the ball now finding its way into the Gloucester half much more, Bath continued to try and pressurise the home goal. However, with the Yellows standing resolute there seemed to be no way past the ever-present Williams, Sallis, Collins and Elliott, who were all instrumental in the maintaining of the clean sheet. On the one occasion Bath managed to get through, the post came to Gloucester’s rescue.

To ease the pressure slightly, Weatherley decided to step up with a fantastic solo goal. Picking the ball up around the centre mark, the city captain ran at the Bath defence. With a shimmy and a side-step to the right he unleashed a 20 yard, top-corner screamer – 4-0.

The final nail in the coffin came when Williams won the ball in the middle of the park and fed Sutherland, the striker again calmly slotting the ball around the goalkeeper to complete his brace and see Gloucester finish the game with another accomplished performance.

Gloucester B: Balkwill; Sallis, Collins, Elliott; Butcher, Knight, Weatherley, Williams, Mason. Sub: Sutherland.