Heartbreak for Gloucester City Women as they bow out of the County Cup after a 2-1 defeat to Frampton Rangers.
Kate Ambrey is in a rich vein of form at the moment and opened the scoring for City with a sublime finish only for Frampton to equalise on the stroke of halftime and then snatch a winner late on.
City came out the blocks flying and the early pressure was almost rewarded when Lannece Hole was slid through on goal but unfortunately missed the target. Shortly after, Ambrey latched onto a through ball and finished with a touch of class chipping the ball over the on rushing goalkeeper.
On the 20 minute mark, a mixup in the City defence gifted Frampton an opportunity to equalise but for some excellent defending by Nicole Lewis who recovered well to clear the ball out of the six yard box.
The Captain Jade Powell worked tirelessly in the middle of the park and after picking up a loose ball around the Frampton box, tried her luck from range but was unable to test the goalkeeper.
Catrin Harding made numerous important saves in the first half and dominated her box with authority, however a thunderbolt from 25 yards just before halftime sailed into the back of the net giving the City shot stopper no chance.
Once again, City flew out the traps in the second half and Ambrey almost turned provider after her cross clipped off the crossbar and fell to lannece Cole who brought a good stop out of the Rangers keeper.
In the 75th minute Chloe Day went down injured and had to come off meaning City had to finish the game with 10 players having no substitutions due to a high volume of injuries within the squad. This seemed to be the turning point as Frampton took full advantage of the extra player.
With penalties looming, Rangers threw everything forward and managed to nick a winner in the 84th minute, once again giving Harding no chance as Frampton tapped in from close range from a low cross.
City showed a good account of themselves against a team who are two divisions higher and will be looking to build on this performance when they travel to Pucklechurch on Sunday 28th.
Ben Nugent
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