Gloucester City vs Gresley Rovers
On a very wet and miserable night down in Gloucestershire a gutsy Gresley fight back brought a warm glow to their hardy supporters who had made the trek to Manor Park.
With just 30 minutes of the game remaining Gresley looked down and out trailing 3-1 but two goals in as many minutes saw the visitors come back to South Derbyshire with a share of the points.
Gresley made the first attempt on goal on 6 minutes but Gareth Holmes put his shot over the bar.
Five minutes later it was the turn of the home side to go close. Jimmy Cox was fed a through ball by Tom Webb but the forward's strike went across the face of goal where Andy Hoskins almost stabbed the ball home at the far post.
On 16 minutes some inter-passing between Holmes, Richard Wardle and Jamie Barrett resulted in Leon Doughty firing his shot over the bar from just outside the area.
Four minutes later, however, the Tigers took the lead. Lee Smith provided a cross that was not defended by Gresley and Hoskins was waiting totally unmarked to nod the ball home.
Both sides were trying to make the most of the conditions and Gresley keeper Dale Belford did well to deny Cox a goal from close range.
Just as Gresley were thinking of going in for a halftime break they got back on terms.
Deep into first half injury time an embarrassing mix-up between Gloucester keeper Matt Bath and Chris Thompson allowed Shaun Harrad to waltz around the pair of them with the ball before almost walking the ball into the net.
Gresley came out looking for a goal and could have taken the lead when Doughty put Holmes' cross over the bar and then Carl Francis putting a header just wide from a Doughty free kick.
On 57 minutes Gloucester were back in front. A free kick from Chris Burns was only half cleared to Adam Hemmings who returned the ball into the Gresley area. Holmes managed to clear the ball only as far as Hoskins who slammed home the ball into the corner of the net.
Four minutes later things got worse for Gresley. The visitor's were looking vulnerable to the high ball from set pieces and so it proved. A right wing corner from Neil Mustoe resulted in Hoskins completing his hat trick from a free header.
Gresley tried to come back and on 70 minutes a cross from Francis was almost converted by Holmes and minutes later Harrad just couldn't capitalize on a mistake by Mustoe.
The three points looked well and truly in the bag for the Tigers until a piece of naïve defending from substitute Dan Avery saw the youngster in no mans land as he tried in vain to mark two Gresley attackers.
Wardle fired in a cross that found Holmes who only needed the faintest of touches to put Gresley back into the game.
Arguably the goal of the game came within a minute of the restart. Substitute Paul Spacey, who had only been on the pitch for five minutes, collected the ball and fired in an unstoppable strike from 30 yards into the top corner of Bath's goal net.
The visitor's were now well on top and Gloucester having to defend for all they were worth. Indeed, Gresley could, or probably should, have stolen all three points right at the final whistle when a corner from Liam Hebberd was headed fractionally wide by Matt Smith.
Gloucester City (1) 3
Gresley Rovers (1) 3
Scorers: Hoskins 20, 57, 61 (Gloucester City); Harrad 45, Holmes 83, Spacey 84 (Gresley Rovers).
Gloucester City: Bath. L Smith
, Hemming, Griffiths, Jefferies (Avery 74) Thompson, Burns, Cox, Webb, Hoskins, Mustoe. Subs not used: Wilkinson, Knight.
Gresley Rovers: Belford, Everitt, Wardle, M Smith, Haynes (Cheetham 67), Barrett, Doughty (Spacey 78), Slater, Harrad, Francis (Hebberd 73), Holmes. Subs not used: Alexander, Clarke (gk).
Rovers Star Man: Shaun Harrad – Worked hard against some tough defending.
Referee: C Williams (Aylesbury).
Attendance: 253
