Following a decisive victory away at Swindon Supermarine, Gloucester City secured their playoff berth with three goals and three points.
The Tigers ended a scoreless stretch of three straight away losses by showcasing their domination throughout the game.
Ed Williams and Elis Watts’ attempts went high and wide of the mark as City peppered the Supermarine goal, but they were unable to score. At the eighteen-minute mark, a header from Kevin Dawson rebounded onto the top of the crossbar, and nobody was there to follow it in.
The away side kept pushing, backed by a strong away attendance and thought they made it 1-0 on the half hour mark after a Watts curling effort hit the left hand post, and City’s top scorer Joe Hanks was there to turn the ball in but he was adjudged to have been offside even thought it looked like he was bang in line.
This didn’t stop City’s domination and they would finally get their just rewards just under 10 minutes before the half time break.
Watts was involved again, feeding Dayle Grubb whose low effort was well saved by Daniel Brabham in the hosts goal but the ball spun in the air and Hanks was there to head in the rebound for his 22nd goal of the season.
Williams nearly made it two, two minutes before half time but it wide just wide of the right hand post, indicatiing that City were unwilling to sit on the one goal lead and were going to be searching for more in the second half.
The match became a bit tetchy in the second half with a number of challenges awarded with yellow cards in what was City’s most local match of the season and the game became a bit stop-start throughout with Daniel Leadbitter and Harry Pinchard having to be subbed off.
Eight minutes into the second period, Hanks was there again for his eighth double of the 2024/25 season and a goal with similarities to the first.
A Watts cross was beautifully curled in to the path of Grubb but his close range effort was well saved again but he coudln’t deny Hanks again as the ball fell into his path before he rifled it from about six yards out to double City’s advantage.
At the mid way mark of the second half City made it three and it was Watts involved again as he turned from providor into scorer.
After the substitutes were made by City manager Mike Cook, the home side did begin to get more of a foothold in the match and they pulled a goal back with less than 10 minute remaining after Harry Williams bundled in from close range to frustrate City who had been in total control for the entirity of the match.
With Swindon slipping into the drop zone with a defeat they piled on the pressure in the final dying embers of the game as they aimed to kickstart an unlikely comeback but Jared Thompson proved his star quality in goal by claiming a number of dangerous crosses and when the hosts had a ball slipped in, Thompson was there to get there before the attacker and cooly passed it to a City player.
At the other end Liam Cross went closest in the last few minutes as he looked for his first goal in his second spell at the club but his curling strike just msised the right hand corner which would then have been the cherry on the icing on the cake.
That was full time and City deservedly picked up the three points, the three points confirming where City have been in for the entire season and booking their spot in the top five.
City were back to their attacking best and could have had more than the three they scored in what had been a pleasing away performance which they dominated, but it also meant that they have scored 10 goals in their past two matches as they aim to build momentum for the all important playoffs
With results elsewhere it also confirmed that the Tigers will be finishing in fourth, meaning they have an away fixture against Walton & Hersham on 30th April which will promise to be another cracker between the two sides after two hectic and close encounters over this season.
There is no pressure on the outcome of City’s season-ending match against Gosport Borough, but it should be an exciting match as they look to close off the season at the TigerTurf in grand fashion.
