GCAFC 2-3 Scarborough

Match Report - Lawrence Stanley

Images - Neil Phelps

Gloucester City suffered defeat in a closely fought contest to Scarborough Athletic in the National League North at the TigerTurf Stadium on Saturday.

A frantic start saw both teams score early on with Tre Mitford notching for the Tigers before Dom Tear restored parity.

It was City who took control of the second half and Mitford again got on the scoresheet after linking up well with Dom McHale.

But the visitors fought back to level courtesy of Lucas Colville before Lewis Maloney struck late on to send the travelling away fans home delighted.

City took the lead in the first attack of the match when Dom McHale cut the defence wide open with a brilliant pass to Mitford, who took it round Joe Cracknell and rolled the ball into the net.

Scarborough then levelled straight away, after they broke down the left hand side and Kieron Glynn squared it to Tear who rifled his shot home.

New signing Sean O’Brien went on a mazy run and cut inside from around 20 yards out, curling a wonderful strike which crashed against the crossbar.

The Seadogs almost took the lead with Glynn’s great chance when he was fed by Tear and forced a good stop by Brandon Hall at the near post.

It was the away side who had the better of the first half, but couldn’t convert their chances into anything worthwhile as Kieran Weledji and Maloney both blazed efforts over.

McHale and Mitford linked up well again but the forward couldn’t add to his tally and dragged his shot wide.

McHale played a short corner to Matthew Barnes-Homer but he scuffed the attempt. Jack James was then heroic in his defending as he blocked an attempt from the resulting counter attack.

City had a big shout for a penalty shortly after. McHale found space in the box but was then thought to have been tripped by a Scarborough defender.

The referee saw differently and stuck with his original decision – even after consulting with his assistant on the far side.

Scarborough took advantage of the hectic restart and Hall did well to parry Ashley Jackson’s strike which was cleared by Ben Morgan.

In a back and forth contest it was the Tigers who regained their lead following a corner floated in by McHale that fell to Mitford who lashed the ball into the roof of the net to bag his brace.

The Seadogs responded well to going behind again, and Colville restored parity with a curling effort from just inside the box to set up an intriguing final 10 minutes.

McHale and Mitford almost combined for a third time in the match as the attacking midfielder drove in from the right and saw Mitford but the striker could only put it wide.

It was Scarborough who had the last word though as they snatched a winner late on thanks to Maloney’s thunderous strike which Hall had no chance of stopping.

City pushed into stoppage-time to get what would’ve been a deserved point and Seadogs ‘keeper Cracknell produced a superb save to deny Matt Buse and give the visitors all three points.

Match Attendance - 913