On the back of some pretty poor showings while on tour in rainy Wales, the boys were in needs of a pick-me-up and were hoping to get this in their next fixture versus (relatively) local rivals Bath. Much like Wales, Bath never seem to want to provide us with pleasing weather when we attend – leaving me wondering what these organisers have done in their lives to have such a friendly relationship with Mother Nature herself. 

Either way, the 5 minute journey started as it always does with this team – loudly. Savioli and Glanville were being watched as they had taken the back row of the bus, which was worrying to both Coaches….and rightly so. Howard and Middlecote have faces of innocence, yet always look at you like they’re hiding something and Ali, ever-present on the front row just lets out screams at random moments to try and scare Paul into his third old-man heart attack of the year.

Luckily, we made it to Bath with only a whiff of a murmur and were greeted by the ever-so-similar loud, but loutish A-Team in the car park and the wait for a changing room commenced. Glanville, I believe needed to go for a ‘wee’ – Paul and I clocking on after his 23rd ask in 3 minutes. He and Buckland spent Hickey’s final 20p and used the public toilets. 

Changing rooms not opened, the boys made their way to open fields where they were proceeded to get changed in a hanger-type outer building. Once ready, the boys made their way to the warm-up area, where it was evident that half the team’s get-up-and-go was still left on the minibus. A quick reminder to the boys that we were looking for some ‘desire’ more than anything today otherwise we’d find ourselves 2-0 down with the first 10 minutes.

Well, Paul and I were wrong. We were actually 3-0 down within 10 minutes.  An incredibly poor start to the game allowed Bath no-end of space to play the fluent passing game that they like to play. With the space allowed, Bath were able to thread some beautiful throughballs where one of three attacking players would be near enough clean through. 

A couple of changes made and a good bit of fortune looked like it gave the away team some fight all of a sudden. Good pressure from Kelly and a scuffed shot found its way to Dixon who quickly fired in to give the Yellows a chance.

From then on, it was like we were a different team completely. With people now marking their men and giving them limited space, Middlecote and Stokes came into fruition. They no longer had to go and close too much space, but were able to sweep brilliantly. Kelly and Glanville in the middle started winning more tackles, which was spurring on further attacks into Bath’s half. This could be built on going into the second half. 

If Match of the Day showed District Football, then this second half would’ve been first on. It was pretty much end-to-end and both teams had that thing we were looking for in spades…..desire!!

Gloucester’s attacks just didn’t look like they were going to produce that needed goal. Dixon, Hodges, Glanville  & Baddhity all have efforts, but no finish. However, when Dixon was brought down in the box (by a good tackle, in my opinion), he confidently smashed the ball into the left of the goal to put the visitors 1 goal behind. 

For the next 10 minutes, Gloucester seemed to have numerous chances to get that equalizers. Howard coming on upfront weaved his way in and out of the Bath defence, only to see his three shots either saved or go just over the bar. Ali, Glanville, Baddhity, Hodges and Kelly continued to press up the pitch, but as the game wore on and the goal not coming, the boys started to tire – leaving space for Bath to come through again. 

As much as Middlecote and Stokes, with the help of Sadler’s saves and closing down, were having maybe their best games so far this season, it wasn’t enough to stop Bath gaining a fourth. With Tom Daley running through for Bath, the referee gave a penalty in the last 5 minutes, which was duly converted and helped Bath see the game out as 4-2 winners.

Barring the first 10 minutes, this was a far better display from the boys and we did indeed find that elusive thing called ‘desire’. Let’s hope we can bring that into a 60-minute display in the future. 

B Team: Sadler, Middlecote, Stokes, Kelly, Howard, Glanville, Baddhity, Ali, Savioli, Hodges, Dixon