Poole Town vs Gloucester City – Match Preview
After four successive 1-0 defeats, the Dolphins find themselves inside the bottom four as we move on to Saturday when we welcome Gloucester City to the BlackGold Stadium.
Joe and Pat spoke about the run of bad luck that has hung over the club in recent weeks but no one is pretending that at times, you make your own luck. There is still plenty to be positive about and with 12 games left to play there is ample opportunity to move out of the bottom four, to safety.
We come into this game on the back of the 1-0 defeat at Wimborne on Tuesday evening which was hard to take as we more than matched our opponents. The red card for Charlie Davis on the half hour could have spelt the end of our challenge, but to the players credit they battled right to the end and it took a 88th minute deflected own goal to rob us of the point we deserved. The match was played in a terrific atmosphere in front of a crowd more than 2000.
Gloucester enjoyed a 5-0 drubbing of Winchester City at the Tiger Turf Stadium on Saturday. It was pretty much one way traffic for the Tigers as they look to cement their promotion push, they are on a good run of form having taken 14 points from their last 6 matches.
They are currently in 3rd place in the table (P31 W16 D12 L3 60 points) and have lost just twice on the road so far, at Dorchester and the amazingly uncharacteristic 6-0 defeat at Plymouth Parkway on 21st December. The Tigers have picked up 24 points away from home from a possible 48.
We lost the reverse fixture 4-1 at The Tiger Turf Stadium in November.
The club is managed by Mike Cook who returned to take up the reigns in September 2023 after gaining management experience at several local non-league clubs. He was not able to prevent relegation from the Vanarama National League North with the club being cut adrift at the foot of the table on 21 points and winning just five home matches and one on the road. In his playing career he played for York City, Cambridge United and Coventry City.
Leading scorer is Joseph Hanks who is in joint 3rd place (with Jordan Edwards, Hanwell Town) in the leading scorers table for this league on 18 goals.
In their post-match interview on Tuesday evening Joe and Pat spoke passionately about the amazing support that they and the players have received in recent weeks although things have not been going our way. There is no doubt that this great support makes a huge difference and when we eventually get that elusive win it will be partly down to the fantastic backing that the fans are giving the team.
Enjoy the game
Neil Wellington.