By Noah Woodland
City drew with ten-man Blyth Spartans in a cagey 2-2 affair at the TigerTurf stadium with both goals coming from Dom McHale.
The first ten minutes were cagey, with next to no chances for either side, however it didn't take long for Dom McHale to net his first goal of the game. The ball found itself down the left hand side, and was whipped across the box for McHale to slot in the bottom corner to make it 1-0.
Then within a matter of minutes the number 10 made it two, after receiving the ball down the right hand side, the forward man looked for the same corner just outside the Spartans box, and found it perfectly to net his second of the game within 13 minutes.
Things went from bad to worse for Blyth, after captain Nicky Deverdics saw red in the 24th minute after a 50/50 with City's Jack James, it then looked to be a long day for Blyth from there on in.
The Tigers controlled the rest of the first half, pressuring the Blyth goal and having all of the possession and looked to be going into the break 2-0 up, however Blyth's Troy Chiabi thought otherwise, after he pounced on Junior Tiensia's mistake inside his own box to give his team a glimmer of hope going into the break.
Play resumed and once again City dominated the ball, and in the 52nd minute, Jake Andrews found some space inside the Spartans box, was brought down, with the referee Shaun Taylor having no choice but to award the penalty. McHale grabbed the ball and looked to net his third of the game, however Spartans keeper Alex Mitchell got down to the forward man's drilled effort and denied him of his hat-trick.
Shortly after, Tope Obadeyi and the Tigers crowd thought they had got their third of the game, when the number 14 tapped in after a goalkeeper rebound, however the linesman's flag was raised.
Gloucester continued to dominate proceedings, however from next to nothing, Blyth went on the attack and after the attacker was brought down inside the box, the referee awarded the second penalty of the game. Spartans number 11 Isaac Walker put the ball on the spot and drilled it down the middle, City keeper Brandon Hall made the save, however the ball came back out to Walker and he levelled his ten-man team on the 62nd minute mark.
After levelling the score, the game became a fairly even one with both teams getting on the ball. City looked to get the winner, where they added attacking reinforcements Kieran Phillips and new man JJ Hooper.
Phillips made an instant impact down the left hand side, getting on the ball and attacking the tiring Blyth, with the extra man showing fitness-wise towards the last ten minutes. Blyth were rightfully so, hanging on to this crucial point, putting every man behind the ball going into added time.
Blyth then went on a counter attack and Ben Morgan brought down the Blyth attacker and was given a red card for the offence, making ten vs ten.
City pushed right up to the final whistle, however their efforts just fell short of the three points and the game ended 2-2.
City now look forward to an away trip to Brackley Town on the 28th January.
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