By Oscar Cayo-Evans
USW 4ths are staring down the barrel of relegation after an action-filled but ultimately disappointing 4-3 loss to Gloucester 2nd.
Off the back of a hard fought 2-2 draw against top of the table USW 3rd two weeks earlier, the 4ths suffered their fifth loss of the season at the Sport Park.
USW started the brighter of the two sides with two great chances spurned by Iwan Mooney.
But Gloucester got the opening goal after a pinpoint long ball from Tom Stevens found the feet of striker Lewis Chappell who isolated the defender before finding the bottom corner.
USW equalised when Redd Pratley beat his man and smashed his effort into the net off the post giving the keeper no chance.
Shortly after, on the brink of half-time, Mooney’s shot was parried into the path of Pratley who finished into an empty net for his second of the game to hand USW a 2-1 lead at the break.
Things got even better for the hosts when, in the 50th minute, Adam Kaplan smashed his effort home to establish a two-goal cushion.
Yet barely before USW could finish celebrating Ben Turner pulled one back for the visitors after screams for offside from USW.
In the 70th minute a major turning point of the game came when Sam Gooda’s tackle when he was the last man earned him a red card, leaving his side to negotiate 20 minutes with 10 men.
Despite being down a player on target Chappell sparked a comeback for his side, equalising in the 69th minute after poor defending from USW.
In added time Gloucester’s star man Chappell rose high above the defenders from a corner and headed home to make it 4-3 and steal all three points for the travelling side Gloucester.
A bitterly disappointed USW will travel to mid table Bristol 5ths hoping for other results to go their way to save them from the relegation trap door.