Match Report: Double Gloucester Delight

Gloucester City 2-3 Uxbridge

It barely seems believable that it was a year ago to the day that Uxbridge were being comfortably beaten 4-2 at home by Rayners Lane, wondering if their play off hopes were going up in smoke. Fast forward 365 days, and The Reds came away from their trip to high flying Gloucester City, with a 3-2 win, thus completing a remarkable double, following their late win at Honeycroft back in November. This victory moves Uxbridge up to 9th place in the league - and looking increasingly comfortable, which has seen them take four wins and one draw from their last six matches.

The team itself saw one enforced change as George Moore dropped to the bench following a groin injury - meaning we would have to wait for his 100th appearance in an Uxbridge shirt - and Jack Lee came into the starting line up. Harry Rush also made a start in place of Liam Prior-Tack. The match was played in glorious warm spring sunshine, and with little in the way of shade the match was played at something of a leisurely pace - somewhat surprising given Gloucester were looking to close the gap to Farnham and Walton at the top of the league. It was in fact Uxbridge who created the first chance as Toby Nnadozie found space in the box to sting the hands of Jared Thompson in the home goal on 3 minutes.

The soporific atmosphere was then rudely broken on 6 minutes as Avan Jones was caught in possession just outside the box by Roy Simpson, the Gloucester forward rounded the onrushing Marco Underwood and slotted the ball into an empty net, for a less than ideal start for the visitors. Uxbridge though always looked a threat, with the pace of Jo Lawal giving the home defence plenty to think about - and it was Lawal who seized upon a defensive lapse on 22 minutes, and broke away, only to drag his shot just past the post. Gloucester though were seeing plenty of the ball and on 27 minutes had a good chance to double their lead as Ellia Watts got in behind the Uxbridge defence, but his shot was well saved by the feet of Underwood. It was though only a brief reprieve as the lead was doubled on 35 minutes as Rylie Siddal found space on the left of the Uxbridge box, he then nutmegged the unfortunate Cole Brown, before firing in a fierce shot, which Underwood did well to parry - unfortunately the loose ball fell straight back to him, and he made no mistake lashing the ball home from close range. It would have been easy for Uxbridge heads to drop, however they were back in the match within 3 minutes, Lawal again doing well on the right to beat his man and get in a low cross which Lee was unable to make a meaningful connection with, however the ball fell nicely to Jeremiah Okine-Peters, who made no mistake from inside the 6 yard box, to half the deficit at the break.

HT 1-2

With the travelling Uxbridge fans restricted to one end - the second half became something of a Specsavers audition, as eyes were strained trying to see the other end of the pitch through an increasingly low sun. There were a couple of early corners for Gloucester, which Underwood dealt with comfortably, before Kane Simpson did connect with one, but could only find the side netting. Uxbridge saw more of the ball, without creating a mass of chances, and the match began to resemble a pre-season friendly in a sunny Mediterranean climate (note to the Chairman for next season maybe?) - with neither side able to make inroads into each other.

That changed on 70 minutes though, as Okine-Peters broke away onto a long ball, and was hauled down in the box as he was about to shoot, giving Uxbridge a penalty which was coolly converted by Troy Perez-Duah to level the scores. The Reds could reasonably have expected something of a response from the home side, as they pushed on to regain the advantage, however this never really materialised and Uxbridge continued to see plenty of the ball - before the aforementioned George Moore did get on for his centenary appearance - and true to the script, he was at the heart of the winner as the match moved into stoppage time. Lawal again did well on the right of the box, to feed the ball to Moore, who twisted and turned before looping over a perfect cross for Frank Keita to tap home, with the keeper stranded. There was time for one long range shot in response from Gloucester, but it was The Reds who took all three points back to Hillingdon.

FT 3-2

Att: 955

Uxbridge: Underwood, Brown, Martin, Fearn, Jones, Nnadozie (Boorn), Lawal (Bocarro), Perez-Duah (Perz Duah) Okine-Peters (Keita), Rush, Lee (Moore)