Gloucester City’s fast start to a sunny afternoon effectively killed the game for the visitors, read our match report sponsored by BuildADrive.com.

Two goals in the opening 14 minutes from Gloucester effectively ended The Lions’ hope despite a fight back through James Gale’s header midway through the first half.

The opening goal came after just three minutes when Ollie Hulbert headed in from two yards out after Thierry Latty-Fairweather did his best to stop the cross despite picking up three City attackers.

11 minutes later Tommy O’Sullivan doubled the home side’s advantage at the end of a neat passing move the midfielder slotted home with a calm finish.

The end to end start continued when Kaine Felix crossed for Gale who powered home a header to score our first goal on the road since January and first strike anywhere in six games.

It sparked a reaction from the visitors, Hamza Bencherif should really have equalised as an Lebrun Mbeka header picked out the captain who poked over from three yards out.

The Lions were continuing to push and Harvey Wiles-Richards was forced into a good save from Gale’s powerful drive at goal, he was a relieved man though when a Gloucester defender just took the ball off of George Cantrill’s toes as he was ready to convert John Johnston’s knock down.

The final chance of the half fell to Latty-Fairweather who saw a powerful shot crash off of the crossbar with Wiles-Richards beaten.

After a good end to the first half The Lions struggled to get going in a second half with limited chances for both sides.

Owen Mason made two good saves to deny O’Sullivan and Matt Green but Jordon Thompson should really have extended his side’s lead with a free header from corner but he couldn’t find the target.

Wiles-Richards was forced into another good save as The Lions hunted an equaliser through Andy Kellet’s powerful shot, the keeper spilled but Latty-Fairweather couldn’t tuck away the loose ball.

The majority of the 828 crowd knew their side had secured three points when Thompson was found unmarked in the box to head home.

The advantage was extended when Lucas Tomlinson made it 4-1 with a neat finish to further seal a miserable afternoon on the road.

The two final chances of the game went to Russ O’Neill and Marcus Bignot’s men, first substitute Josh Stones headed over then Johnston forced Wiles-Richards into a good save to deny the midfielder.

The Lions move on to try and earn a precious three points on Tuesday night at Kettering’s Latimer Park ground using up their final game in hand.

Attendance: 828

Team: 1. Owen Mason, 2. George Cantrill, 3. Thierry Latty-Fairweather, 4. Prince Ekpolo (75’ Stones), 5. Hamza Bencherif (C), 6. Lebrun Mbeka, 7. Kaine Felix (62’ Tear), 8. Jason Sraha, 9. James Gale, 10. John Johnston and 11. Andy Kellett (65’ Hey).

Subs: 12. Ollie Brown, 14. Lewis Hey (65’ Kellett), 15. Dom Tear (62’ Felix), 16. Regan Hutchinson and 17. Josh Stones (75’ Ekpolo).