Gloucester City will be aiming to get back to winning ways on Saturday when they take on Hanwell Town after suffering successive defeats for the first time in 2024/25.
The Tigers currently sit in fourth, nine points clear of Havant and Waterloovile who are sat outside the playoffs in sixth and will need to get back on track to avoid their season fizzling out.
Former Cinderford Town manager and current City coach John Brough is feeling positive, however, with eight matches remaining where anything can change.
“I know we dropped to fourth last week but there’s still eight games to go and a lot of points to play for.
“We’ll just take every game off as it comes and we’ll try and finish as high up the table as we can.
“First might be out of our reach, but we’ll see what we can do about second and third, that’d be our of aim to get there,
“But if we don’t get there, we’ll come fourth or fifth and we’ll be in the playoffs and then it’s just down to one-off games and, in the playoffs, anything can happen.”
đ¨CITY NEXT UP
— Gloucester City AFC (@GCAFCofficial) March 11, 2025
đŻWe welcome @hanwelltownfc to the TigerTurf Stadium, as we look to get back to winning ways!
đCITY UPCOMING
âĄď¸'Friday Night Lights' are nearly upon us, with a great atmosphere expected, live music, and hopefully a good result on the pitch! Get your tickets⌠pic.twitter.com/AzZRVVibbF
With third place in the table securing a home leg in the play-off semi final it is integral for City to overhaul Walton & Hersham in the table having been overtaken by the Swans who now sit one point ahead in the Southern Premier Division South table.
Last time out City played out one of their worst performances of the season when they were defeated by Hungerford Town, a game which saw City have just two shots on target while barely threatening the hosts goal, on the contrary Coventry City loanee Luke Bell continued his fine form, restricting the score to just one.
Former Cheltenham Town player, Brough, also revealed that the club will have injury boosts as they gear up for a run-in where they play five game at the TigerTurf Stadium.
“Harry Burns came back last week. He’s been out for a few weeks and hopefully we get Ty (Tyrone Duffus) back for the weekend, who’s been really good this season.
“We’ve had to juggle the pack a little bit at centre back but Daniel (Daniel Leadbitter) had better time to slot in there instead of full back and he is only just coming back from a fairly long layoff.
“It’s good that we get more bodies back, Brandon (Brandon Smalley) wasn’t quite up to playing last week. and he’s trained twice this week.
“We will have a full 11 and a strong bench, which is always good for the management to look around. If things aren’t quite happening then you can replace and change that hopefully will get us over the line.”
City have an imperious record at the stadium having won 11 of their 16 home fixtures this season, despite losing a fortnight ago to Walton. They take on Hanwell Town who are perched in mid table.
The Geordies are currently sat in 11th place in a no-mans land position, sitting 12 points off the playoffs, while they are nine points clear of any relegation threat.
Town lost last time out in mid-week when they were defeated by relegation battlers Frome Town but have been in strong form having lost just two of their last 13 games, which will ensure they finish higher than the 17th that they did in 2023/24.
In that dozen match period, they have won only four of those matches with a further seven draws as they have failed to make headway on the playoffs which will be a step too far.
The west London based side have lost their last two games on their travels without scoring, but still have the fifth best away record this season having won six of their 17 games.
They have won two of their last five games on the road defeating Basingstoke in a seven goal thriller and defeating in-form Plymouth Parkway 2-0.
In the reverse fixture Hanwell restricted City to a goalless stalemate, which is just one of three that City have had in their 34 games this season.
City know that failing to secure three points at the TigerTurf Stadium will increase pressure on manager Mike Cook who was booed after substituting fans favourite Kieran Phillips at the hour mark in their away loss to the Crusaders.
Keep up to date with the rest of todayâs sporting news, including Gold Cup Day at the Cheltenham Festival on our live blog.
