Just one place, one point and thirty miles separated the two teams before kick-off, but victory was enough to see the visitors leapfrog Worcester in the table, although the home side have one game in hand still to play.

Ethan Moore missed a glorious chance with six minutes of normal time remaining, and the defeat means that City will begin the New Year occupying the third relegation spot in the Skrill North table.

The visitors started brightly and came close as Connor Waldon fired wide to the right of Veiga’s goal from the edge of the area after four minutes, before a Darren Edwards header from corner two minutes later looped onto the roof of the net.

The Tigers threatened again with sixteen minutes gone as Joe Parker pinched the ball from a stretching Tyler Weir, rounding the advancing Veiga before seeing his weak shot cleared from the goalmouth by the recovering Weir.

And the pressure from the away side paid off as they took the lead after twenty minutes. Joe Parker flicked the ball over the head of Waldon, with the striker sending a looping volley over Veiga that dipped under the crossbar and into the top corner.

The goal seemed to spur the home side into life as City had their first real spell in the visitors half. Aaron Williams’s curling shot from the edge of the area was clutched by the diving Mike Green, before Daniel Nti’s shot from inside the six yard box was blocked following George Williams’s cross.

And City came close again with just two minutes of the half remaining, as Nti dinked the ball over to Boxing Day’s hero Ethan Moore, who fired an early shot that was scrambled wide by Green at his near post.

Conner Walden nearly doubled the lead for the visitors after the restart, sprinting clear but seeing his fierce shot tipped acrobatically over the bar by Veiga.

City probed, but squandered a real chance approaching the hour mark as a swift counter attack ended when Daniel Nti blazed wildly over from inside the area from Aaron Williams’s cross.

The home side continued to push for an equaliser and threatened again minutes later, as Tyler Weir’s cross found Aaron Williams, who out-jumped the Gloucester goalkeeper but saw his header drop agonisingly wide of the post.

The visitors missed a guilt-edged chance to finish the game with twenty-minutes left as Jose Veiga’s miscued clearance fell to the feet of Edwards, who scuffed his ambitious attempt to catch the goalkeeper out, sending it wide.

But it was City who were bombarding the Gloucester box as they desperately tried to snatch a vital equaliser, and with ten minutes left Richard Munday, who spent the last ten minutes as a makeshift centre forward, headed the ball to Moore who fired wide of the far post from inside the area.

City’s dominance was causing some desperate defending from the visitors and, with just six minutes of normal time left, substitute Dominic Dell challenged goalkeeper Green, with the ball being spilled to the feet of City’s top scorer Moore, who, with an empty net beckoning, fired over the bar.

Assistant manager Matt Gardiner believed that missed chances in the second half cost his side, “I thought our quality in our final pass could have been a lot better in the final third, and in the second half when we’ve got opportunities to hit the target, and they’re not difficult chances, we haven’t worked the goalkeeper when it mattered".

“We’re obviously disappointed because they’re your competitors around you in that mini-league and you want to strike a blow”, said Gardiner.
City return to action on New Year’s day when they host Solihull Moors, and will be hoping to bounce back by claiming points from another of the division’s top sides again this season.

Attendence 796

Report by Alexander Harris