Gloucester City 1
Gainsborough Trinity 2
Two first-half strikes from Gainsborough Trinity saw a scratch Gloucester City side defeated at Whaddon Road, writes Simon Clark.
A Darryn Stamp header and a penalty from Simon Russell had put the Lincolnshire side ahead before half time, but after Josh Wilde's cynical sending off the Tigers came back strongly.
Will Morford's sharp finish had put City with hope heading into the final moments.
However, they couldn't score the equalising goal.
It was a fantastic performance considering how depleted the Tigers squad is, and now even more so with Morford and Darren Edwards heading off to surgery and Lewis Hogg potentially out for the rest of the campaign with a hamstring injury.
City had started strongly and came extremely close after Danny Andrew pumped a hopeful ball forward to Edwards, only for goalkeeper Jan Budtz to clear into the path of Morford and saw his snatch shot bounce off the crossbar.
The Tigers continued to attack but Lewis Hogg's shot from distance produced a top save out of Budtz.
Trinity started to see more of the ball and Jonathan Williams was unlucky with a free kick from 25 yards, which was superbly saved by Mike Green in goal.
It was Stamp's turn to test Green, but the goalkeeper saved with flying colours once more.
After end-to-end opening exchanges Morford saw his shot glance across the front of the goal line with Budtz stranded.
Gainsborough powered forward and only the heroics of Adam Mann on the line stopped Luke Waterfall from breaking the deadlock after his quick shot in the six yard box.
The Tigers went close yet again, but a Beckham-esque free kick from Andrew was saved brilliantly in the top left corner.
Andrew then turned provider, but his cross, after being flicked on by Mann, fell to Morford only for a superb block from Wilde denied him.
Then came the breakthrough; Gainsborough took the lead after a brilliant cross from Dominic Roma found the head of Stamp to slot the ball home at the front post.
City came back at the Lincolnshire outfit, but Darren Edward's scooped shot from close range failed to trouble the keeper.
The second major moment of the contest came when Matt Liddiard unfortunately brought down Terry Hawkridge for a penalty, from which Russell tucked home.
The tetchy first half and a mild refereeing performance certainly irked both teams and saw a huge fracas as the sides entered for half time, from which City Assistant Manager Neil Mustoe was sent to the stands
The second half continued in this manner as in the 48th minute Josh Wilde was sent off after a cynical challenge on Steve Davies saw a second booking for the defender.
Gloucester immediately tried to capitalise on their one-man advantage but Andrew's screamer from 30 yards was somewhat fortuitously saved by the keeper.
From the resulting corner a trademark Liddiard thunderbolt shot past the post.
City smashed back on 59 minutes after a quick Tom Webb corner saw Davies crossed into the area where Morford was there to smash home first time to place City firmly back in the contest.
City continued to come forward but half chances for substitutes Scott Wilson and Joe Parker failed to trouble the goal and saw the Tigers succumb to defeat.
Gloucester City: M. Green, S. Rawlings, D. Andrew, M. Liddiard, C. Holland, T. Webb, L. Hogg (Mace 65), S. Davies (Parker 63), D. Edwards (Wilson 63), W. Morford, A Mann. Subs not used: J. Hunt, N. Mustoe
Stalybridge Celtic: J. Budtz, D. Roma, J. Wilde, L. Waterfall, G. Young, J. Williams (Thompson 76), S. Russell, C. Nelthorpe, J. Yates, D. Stamp (Jones 84), T. Hawkridge (Platt 87). Subs not used: P. Connor, L. Karkach
Attendance: 185
