Gloucester City’s in-form striker Dom McHale was once again on the scoresheet this weekend as he helped his side beat Bradford Park Avenue 5-1.
In front of a lively crowd at the TigerTurf Stadium it was City who began the game on the front foot with McHale perfectly placing the ball into the net to put the Tigers 1-0 up in the first two minutes.
To say it was all City would be an understatement as struggling Bradford seemed to be on the ropes early on. With chance after chance and the northerners defence all over the place it was inevitable City would grab another goal and in the 13th minute that’s exactly what happened. Centre back Kennedy Digie finishing off what was a brilliant ball by McHale to double the score line and get his first goal for the club.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Bradford though as they managed to get themselves back into the game when striker Brad Dockerty netted a well-placed header past City keeper Brandon Hall to narrow the score line and make it 2-1.
Despite the visitors clawing a goal back and creating a few hot heads in the crowd Gloucester continued to be on top and ended the first half positively.
City began the second half as they did in the first, threatening the oppositions box straight from the referee’s whistle. Once again it was the troublesome McHale causing problems for the visitors and not long into the half the 26-year-old was brought down in the area giving the referee no other option but to give a penalty. It was down to Tope Obadeyi who confidently stepped up to take and score the penalty for City. Surely at 3-1 the game was over.
So far so good for Steven King’s men as the score line certainly reflected the game and City’s dominance. There was a brief period where neither side created very many chances and an element of gamesmanship was certainly on show.
With the City fans in strong voice, it was the 68th minute when they had something else to cheer about. Striker Kieran Phillips, who made it 4-1 to City, finishing off a wonderful cut back from that man McHale, scoring his seventh league goal the season.
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Shortly after the fourth goal, City finally completed a solid day at the office when captain McHale scored his second and City’s fifth goal of the game finalising a comfortable 5-1 victory for the Tigers which saw them seal all three points and move up to ninth position.
City will be hoping they can continue winning ways when they take on Curzon Ashton at the Tameside Stadium on Saturday (15:00).
