Gloucester B 5-3 Bath by Mo Mentus
As William Wordsworth might have quoted, "Then come the wild weather, through sleet and through snow, we will stand by each other, however it blow!"
Granted it wasn't sleet. Granted it wasn't snow. However, if you look up ‘miserable weather’ in Coach Harris' meteorological dictionary, then Saturday morning was the perfect picture of it.
Bath were the day's opponents for the third (and final) time and if the previous combined score of 14 goals to their 1 was anything to go by, then we were quickly taught that this train of thought was hugely unreliable. The boys were going to have to dig a little deeper to gain something from this game.
It was the home team however that took the early lead. In a heap of scrappiness, Williamson won the ball in the middle of the park and passed right to Taylor. His touch towards goal allowed him to unleash a bullet into the top corner of the net and bag the reward of a bunch of happy teammates jumping on top of him (perfect team moment #1).
Bath used the goal to give them the proverbial rear kick they needed and the visitors duly took advantage. Playing some lovely expansive football, they started to pressure the Gloucester goal. Firstly, James down the right side completed a quick one-two with Alcock and ran into the box, only to fire his shot just wide of the goal before Alcock got his own opportunity and took advantage. The ball, being whipped into the box, was only cleared to the edge of the area, where Beecham collected and passed to Alcock who picked his spot and equalised.
Reminiscent of Bath's first chance, the away side quickly took the lead with another one-two down the right between James and Alcock. This time, James ran into the area and thrashed hard and low to benefit greatly from the lack of closing down.
Gloucester continued to weather the storm as Bath persisted on playing football around the home boys. With Gloucester over-selling themselves in the tackles and Bath looking far more comfortable on the ball, it looked like it could be a long old morning. The boys however made it up to HT with the 1-2 scoreline still intact.
Gloucester came out the traps in perfect fashion, scoring the quickest goal from a kick-off seen in Coach Harris's and Wixey's time at GPSFA.
With the ball on the centre-spot, the referee blew his whistle to restart. Harris passed back to Williamson, who gave it straight to Limbrick. His pass upwards to Taylor on the right was quickly given to Harris. Holding up the ball, he waited for Hayes to run past him and slotted him through on goal. With one touch inwards, Hayes calmly slotted the ball past the keeper to equalise and bag the reward of a bunch of happy teammates jumping on top of him (perfect team moment #2).
Despite better play in the second half from Gloucester, it was Bath that again took the lead. The ball with Beecham again on the right, played it inwards to Alcock in the middle. Two lazy tackles later, he still had the ball on the edge of the area and smashed another goal over Sargeant.
The Yellow boys didn't let the goal faze them and continued with the play that had suddenly seen them spending more time in the opposition's half. Harris took advantage of a few poor goal kicks, fashioning a couple of chances for himself that were saved by the ever-changing Bath keeper.
This high-pressing was bound to come to fruition at some point and the hosts’ persistence finally paid off. Another poor goal kick was pounced upon by Harris whose shot looked to be heading into the bottom corner only for the keeper to save. His parry however was quickly charged down by Ansermoz [who had been back on the pitch for all but 6.7 seconds] and his shot was calmly placed past the fledgling keeper, bagging him the reward of a bunch of happy teammates jumping on top of him (perfect team moment #3).
With the majority of play still in the away team's half, the Bath keeper cleared up the right side to Alcock, only to find Thomas [who had a new lease of life in the second half] beat his man to the ball. Running down the right and seeing the keeper off his line, Thomas' shot-cum-cross was met by Harris who brilliantly adapted his body to twist and get low and head the ball past the flapping defenders and guess what he bagged..... yep, a bunch of happy teammates jumping on top of him (perfect team moment #4).
Gloucester cemented their lead when Bath were playing with the ball on the edge of their own area. Ansermoz pounced to regain possession and ran across the edge of the box to avoid challenges and slot a perfect ball to Harris who had lost his marker. A quick shot goalwards hit the goalkeeper before Hayes was alert to follow up and bag his first brace [3rd goal] of the season and cap off a very fine individual performance. As a reward, he was strangely enough pounced upon by a bunch of happy teammates (perfect team moment #5).
Throughout the second half, Bath continued to try and play expansive football to get at Gloucester's goal. On the number of occasions that they did succeed to get past the ever-present Limbrick and Laverton in the middle, Thomas was there to use his pace and clear any further danger. He, like Hayes, was having one of his finest performances of the season.
The final whistle eventually blew and the home team can feel reassured in their efforts to gain a win against a good footballing team.
Emphasis, this week, has been put on playing more as a team and less as individuals. The first half was played more as individuals and a storm was created. The second half was played with an almost perfect team performance and by standing by each other, by playing FOR each other, they succeeded in positive fashion. More of the same please!
Gloucester: Sargeant; Ansermoz, Limbrick, Williamson; Laverton, Thomas, Taylor, Harris, Hayes.
Granted it wasn't sleet. Granted it wasn't snow. However, if you look up ‘miserable weather’ in Coach Harris' meteorological dictionary, then Saturday morning was the perfect picture of it.
Bath were the day's opponents for the third (and final) time and if the previous combined score of 14 goals to their 1 was anything to go by, then we were quickly taught that this train of thought was hugely unreliable. The boys were going to have to dig a little deeper to gain something from this game.
It was the home team however that took the early lead. In a heap of scrappiness, Williamson won the ball in the middle of the park and passed right to Taylor. His touch towards goal allowed him to unleash a bullet into the top corner of the net and bag the reward of a bunch of happy teammates jumping on top of him (perfect team moment #1).
Bath used the goal to give them the proverbial rear kick they needed and the visitors duly took advantage. Playing some lovely expansive football, they started to pressure the Gloucester goal. Firstly, James down the right side completed a quick one-two with Alcock and ran into the box, only to fire his shot just wide of the goal before Alcock got his own opportunity and took advantage. The ball, being whipped into the box, was only cleared to the edge of the area, where Beecham collected and passed to Alcock who picked his spot and equalised.
Reminiscent of Bath's first chance, the away side quickly took the lead with another one-two down the right between James and Alcock. This time, James ran into the area and thrashed hard and low to benefit greatly from the lack of closing down.
Gloucester continued to weather the storm as Bath persisted on playing football around the home boys. With Gloucester over-selling themselves in the tackles and Bath looking far more comfortable on the ball, it looked like it could be a long old morning. The boys however made it up to HT with the 1-2 scoreline still intact.
Gloucester came out the traps in perfect fashion, scoring the quickest goal from a kick-off seen in Coach Harris's and Wixey's time at GPSFA.
With the ball on the centre-spot, the referee blew his whistle to restart. Harris passed back to Williamson, who gave it straight to Limbrick. His pass upwards to Taylor on the right was quickly given to Harris. Holding up the ball, he waited for Hayes to run past him and slotted him through on goal. With one touch inwards, Hayes calmly slotted the ball past the keeper to equalise and bag the reward of a bunch of happy teammates jumping on top of him (perfect team moment #2).
Despite better play in the second half from Gloucester, it was Bath that again took the lead. The ball with Beecham again on the right, played it inwards to Alcock in the middle. Two lazy tackles later, he still had the ball on the edge of the area and smashed another goal over Sargeant.
The Yellow boys didn't let the goal faze them and continued with the play that had suddenly seen them spending more time in the opposition's half. Harris took advantage of a few poor goal kicks, fashioning a couple of chances for himself that were saved by the ever-changing Bath keeper.
This high-pressing was bound to come to fruition at some point and the hosts’ persistence finally paid off. Another poor goal kick was pounced upon by Harris whose shot looked to be heading into the bottom corner only for the keeper to save. His parry however was quickly charged down by Ansermoz [who had been back on the pitch for all but 6.7 seconds] and his shot was calmly placed past the fledgling keeper, bagging him the reward of a bunch of happy teammates jumping on top of him (perfect team moment #3).
With the majority of play still in the away team's half, the Bath keeper cleared up the right side to Alcock, only to find Thomas [who had a new lease of life in the second half] beat his man to the ball. Running down the right and seeing the keeper off his line, Thomas' shot-cum-cross was met by Harris who brilliantly adapted his body to twist and get low and head the ball past the flapping defenders and guess what he bagged..... yep, a bunch of happy teammates jumping on top of him (perfect team moment #4).
Gloucester cemented their lead when Bath were playing with the ball on the edge of their own area. Ansermoz pounced to regain possession and ran across the edge of the box to avoid challenges and slot a perfect ball to Harris who had lost his marker. A quick shot goalwards hit the goalkeeper before Hayes was alert to follow up and bag his first brace [3rd goal] of the season and cap off a very fine individual performance. As a reward, he was strangely enough pounced upon by a bunch of happy teammates (perfect team moment #5).
Throughout the second half, Bath continued to try and play expansive football to get at Gloucester's goal. On the number of occasions that they did succeed to get past the ever-present Limbrick and Laverton in the middle, Thomas was there to use his pace and clear any further danger. He, like Hayes, was having one of his finest performances of the season.
The final whistle eventually blew and the home team can feel reassured in their efforts to gain a win against a good footballing team.
Emphasis, this week, has been put on playing more as a team and less as individuals. The first half was played more as individuals and a storm was created. The second half was played with an almost perfect team performance and by standing by each other, by playing FOR each other, they succeeded in positive fashion. More of the same please!
Gloucester: Sargeant; Ansermoz, Limbrick, Williamson; Laverton, Thomas, Taylor, Harris, Hayes.
