Mike Cook was left frustrated by the decisions made by referee Lawrence Torz-Brown after his side were reduced to 10 men in their 1-1 draw away to fancied AFC Totton at the Snows Stadium.
In a top-of-the-table clash, Gloucester City’s perilous injury situation worsened when Jadyn Crosbie was forced off after just seven minutes, looking like he strained his hamstring while running with the ball.
Cook hoped to eliminate any fears that it would be a lengthy long term absence for the on-loan Torquay striker, who scored the Tuesday night prior in Gloucester’s 2-0 victory Frome Town.
“I think potentially it might only be a couple of weeks so that will be not too bad if it is. We will get Tuesday and Saturday out of the way and reassess it. I don’t think it’s a bad one,” Cook said regarding Crosbie’s injury.
Brandon Smalley, Crosbie’s replacement, made the difference in an end-to-end affair, with City having more of the ball, while hosts Totton had the greater chances, with former Southampton and QPR striker Charlie Austin having shots well saved by Jared Thompson in the Gloucester goal.
The Stags were limiting the away side to shots from range as Ed Williams dragged a shot wide from 25 yards out, while King Baidoo failed to properly connect with a header.
However, Gloucester found the back of the net after 40 minutes when centre-half Tyrone Duffus showed his class, showing excellent feet to evade the Totton challenges before feeding it to Williams, who gave it to Joe Hanks, who then would set up the eventual goal scorer Smalley. Smalley still had a lot to do, but he sat a Totton defender down and stylishly slotted it into the bottom left corner, sending the travelling fans behind the goal into pandemonium.
The moment we took the lead, thanks to Brandon Smalley #GCAFC #TigerCity pic.twitter.com/7VbaPT2liw
— Gloucester City AFC (@GCAFCofficial) October 19, 2024
Cook, in his second spell as manager at the club, would have loved to take credit for the inspired substitution, but the earlier injury to Crosbie forced the hand of the 56-year-old: “I’d like to take credit for the great substitution, but he is actually injured which is a bit of a shame as he was doing really well for us.
“Pleased that Brandon has gone on to get a great goal which was a tremendous finish. Good tackle by Tyrone as well.”
The Stags, who were unbeaten at home before the game, wanted to prove their home superiority, and they came out after the interval like a house on fire. Just five minutes into the second half, Totton went close, as half-time sub Tom Blair linked up well with Declan Rose, whose cross fell to Tony Lee, but both his and Ethan Taylor’s shots were well blocked by the sturdy Tigers defence, who looked to preserve their one-goal advantage.
However, Totton kept pressing, and they would eventually get their rewards on 56 minutes as Lee and Taylor would link up, with the former setting up the latter before the 22-year-old took a touch and hit a fabulous strike into the bottom right corner that Thompson could do nothing about.
Question marks over the referee Torz-Brown would rear its head for the goal, as there was a suspicion of a foul on Daniel Leadbitter before Taylor’s strike went into the back of the net.
“I think if anyone plays the goal back, Leads [Daniel Leadbitter] was impeded by their centre forward who grabbed hold of him so not a good refereeing decision,” said a bemeused Cook.
“I didn’t think he had a good game today for both teams, but as usual, you aren’t allowed to say too much on it, so I’m not going to do that.”
Totton did seem the more likely side to score with Taylor going close again, while a Luke Bennett strike deflected just wide past the left-hand post.
Gloucester did have their chances in the second half, but they were few and far between, with a Smalley strike well held by Joshua Gould in the Stags goal, and a looping header from Joe Hanks landed onto the roof of the net.
The last 20 minutes with Gloucester under the cosh brought out the best in Ben Richards-Everton who was marshalling the defence, bringing in a sense of calm with some pinpoint tackling and guile to bait and frustrate the attack of the home side into making unneeded challenges.
While Taylor was awarded the MOTM, Richards-Everton was certainly Gloucester’s, picking up on the form that saw him win the club Player of the Month award for September, with Cook saying that “he was immense, and he has been.”
“Since pre-season, there’s been a couple of things we wanted him to do, and he’s bought into that, and he’s got a lot of knowledge and experience of playing at a good level, so we’ve tapped into that, and he’s tapped into us, so he’s been really good.”
Leadbitter would be in the wars again with him sent off for his second yellow card with just a minute spare for a trip, though it looked like the former Bristol Rovers right-back did not touch the opposition attacker.
Cook, whose side still sits pretty at the top of the Southern Premier League South, was left frustrated with the consistency, feeling like decisions favoured the home side, who nearly took home all three points.
“I don’t think it was a yellow card, to be honest. It was the last minute of the game. Both were grappling, and for him, to turn around and send him off for that when four or five incidences in the first half, where one particular player had fouled five or six times on the trot and didn’t get sent off.
“I can’t understand what his consistency levels are, but overall, I am not really that bothered about the referee because I am pretty sure he’s not bothered about us. We will just crack on and do the best we can.”
A teasing free-kick by Blair off the back of that sending-off was nodded on by Lee, but Richards-Everton was there to get a nick in the Gloucester goal to send the ball out for a corner, which would be the last action of the game as the sides at the summit could not be separated.
This result allowed Merthyr Town to pull the gap down to two points with an additional game in hand on both sides thanks to a last-gasp winner against bottom side Marlow.
Having been knocked out of the FA Trophy, the Welsh side are not in action until Saturday, so both the Stags and the Tigers will be hoping to get more points on the board as they gear up for mid-week action.
Totton are at home again as they host mid-table Taunton Town, while City travel down to Hampshire again as they take on relegation-threatened Winchester City, hoping to stretch their advantage over The Martyrs to 5 points.
GCAFC LEAGUE CAMPAIGN | 🆚 Winchester City (A)🐯
— Gloucester City AFC (@GCAFCofficial) October 20, 2024
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We continue on the road 🚌 this Tuesday as we look to keep our 🔝 spot 👏🏼
.#gcafc #tigercity pic.twitter.com/SVpckvStx7
“We are coming back down this way with Winchester on Tuesday, so I would love as many supporters as possible to make that journey, as that will definitely make the difference on Tuesday night.”
Backed by an excellent number of supporters who made the journey down South, the City boss is hoping for more of the same as they look to make it nine games unbeaten in the league and their third away win from seven in the league.