Gloucester City Women Devs slip up to hand title advantage to Longlevens
Gloucester City Women Development suffered a 2-1 defeat at home to Bristol Ladies Union, to hand the GCWFL Division Two title initiative to Longlevens.
Goals from Evie-Jean Wolf and Amber Garton, either side of half time, had Bristol Ladies Union 2-0 to the good, before Nicole Lewis reduced arrears.
Two red cards in injury time saw City Devs end the game with nine, on a frustrating afternoon for Brett Salvage’s side.
Bristol Ladies Union remain in fourth place in the table, but if they win their game in hand, they could move to 3rd and just two points behind Gloucester City.
City themselves now find themselves five points off leaders, Longlevens, who claimed a crucial 7-1 victory on Sunday afternoon.
Longlevens have a game in hand over Gloucester and know that when they head to the TigerTurf in two weeks, they will be at least two points ahead with two games in hand.
This is because next weekend Longlevens are in County Cup action, against Bristol Ladies Union, whilst City Devs are at home to 10th place, Stoke Lane Athletic.
The game at the TigerTurf started with the hosts missing a great chance, with Meg Prout firing wide from the edge of the six yard box on ten minutes.
From there, the visitors grew into the contest and saw efforts off target from Amber Garton and twice from Raya Langford.
Then, just after the half hour mark, Bristol Ladies Union took the lead as Evie-Jean Wolf hooked an effort into the bottom corner, after being picked out from a corner.
Both sides exchanged blocked shots, but the visitors were ahead at the break and were great value for it – with midfielder Erin Taylor impressing in the midfield.
Bristol Ladies Union didn’t have to wait too long after the break for their second, as Garton drilled into the bottom corner from 18 yards.
Following the second goal, the hosts began to play from the back and were nearly caught on multiple occasions, with Wolf and Garton both going close within a matter of seconds of each other.
Just before the hour mark City skipper, Nicole Lewis, rifled an effort home from the edge of the box to make it 2-1, but City never really looked like forcing the equaliser.
City peppered the visitors’ area as the second half wore on, but were very blunt in the final third and were missing forward, Zoe Gabb.
Bristol Ladies Union had two great chances in the latter stages, but Lydia Chamberlain and Raya Langford both fired over from just inside the box.
The hosts’ frustrations blew over in injury time, with Chloe Morgan receiving a red card for a foul. It was a harsh decision to send her off, as it was a frustrating kick, but not malicious or dangerous.
After the card was issued, Meg Prout was issued a second yellow and was dismissed for using foul and abusive language towards the referee.
Next up for Gloucester City Women Devs is that home game with Stoke Lane Athletic next weekend, whilst Bristol Ladies Union head to Longlevens in the GFA Challenge Cup.
Gloucester City Women Development then host a crucial league game against Longlevens Ladies on Sunday 25 February – a game you can listen to live on Severn Sport.
Gloucester City Women Development: Hancock, Bury, K Day, Gabb, Sterry, Leeman, Ireland, Smith, Lewis, Morgan, Prout
Subs: Priday, C Day, O’Neil, Feighery
Bristol Ladies Union: E Pargeter, Hill, M Pargeter, Harrison, Chamberlain, Taylor, Watson, Evans, Langford, Garton, Wolf
Subs: Knight, Freke, Dodds
C Martin Roofing Player of the Match – Erin Taylor (Bristol Ladies Union)
