Gloucester continued to force the pace with Parkway unable to gain or retain any quality possession and they fell further behind on 39 minutes. Again they conceded possession too easily in midfield allowing Hanks to stride forward at pace along the right and strike a powerful, angled drive from around 25 yards past a despairing McCormick.

Gloucester continued to look dangerous going forward with Parkway forced to defend in numbers but they stuck to their task and despite creating little in the final third managed to see the half out with any further alarms.

A cagey opening spell with the hosts gradually taking control of the game looking the stronger outfit and worthy of their half time lead with Parkway creating little in the final third and being forced to defend for lengthy periods.

The 2nd half started in similar fashion with Gloucester looking the stronger but Parkway did manage to get forward along the left in the 49th minute with a Mikey Williams cross being easily gathered by Jared Thompson in the home goal. On 51 minutes Gloucester forced another corner which was only cleared as far as Ben Richards-Everton who fired wildly wide when well placed. Gloucester continued to press and they went further ahead on 56 minutes.

After yet again winning a 50/50 midfield challenge, Smalley powered forward with his fierce shot being parried away by McCormick at full stretch with Mekhai Bessasa-Grant following up to smash home the loose ball from around 10 yards. To their credit Parkway regrouped quickly and pulled a goal back almost immediately.

On 58 minutes Williams got forward along the left with Beardmore’s close range effort from the cross being saved superbly at point blank range by Thompson with Carlo Garside pouncing on the loose ball and drilling home emphatically from around 8 yards.

With Parkway now looking far more dangerous they almost clawed another goal back on 61 minutes with Callum Hall releasing Jones whose angled cross clipped the far post and rolling behind for a goal kick. On 63 minutes Parkway were forced into a change with Hall seemingly picking up an injury and being replaced by Callum Rose.

With Parkway now pushing forward in numbers and forcing Gloucester back and playing on the counter, the hosts broke away on 66 minutes with Hanks almost completing his hattrick only to see his effort hit the bar and be cleared away. Hanks was then replaced by Harry Burns in the 68th minute as Parkway were now enjoying their best spell of the game, dominating in most areas.

Shane White and Scarff continued to work hard in central defence showing good anticipation and pace to stem attacks and managing to restrict the hosts to long range efforts.

Parkway now playing at a higher tempo continued to threaten and began to stretch the home defence. On 69 minutes Beardmore used his pace to get in behind the home backline and square to Tom Dean whose close range effort was superbly blocked on the goal line by Thompson with Wright narrowly failing to get his shot away from the loose ball. Parkway continued to press, looking dangerous along the flanks with Gloucester content to absorb pressure and play on the break.

On 78 minutes Kieran Phillips replaced Bessasa-Grant with Rio Garside replacing Wright shortly after, Rose then saw the games first yellow card as the midfield exchanges became more competitive and physical as Parkway continued to compete strongly. On 82 minutes a long diagonal ball found Jones on the left with his cross bouncing off Thompson and cleared as Parkway continued to create half chances.

Their pressure paid off on 85 minutes as they clawed another goal back to set up a tense finish. Once again good build play along the left released Jones who outpaced his maker and he cut inside to drive an angled drive hard and low under the diving Thompson.

Approaching the 6 minutes of added time Parkway almost completed the comeback after a cross into the danger area by Wiliams, now playing in far more advanced position, narrowly evaded White with no one able to get a final touch with the ball being hacked to safety. Gloucester were now hanging on and looking to run the clock down and see the game out with Thompson seeing yellow in the 92nd minute for delaying his goal kick. Parkway then won another free kick around 25 yards out which Gloucester managed to clear. To slow the game down further,

Dan Small replaced Smalley for the hosts in the 94th minute as they continued to withstand late Parkway pressure and hang on to a hard earned 3 points after seeing their 3 goal lead almost eroded.

After being second best for much of the first half and going 3-0 behind around the hour mark, Parkway displayed commendable fighting spirit, desire and determination in the last 30 minutes to get themselves back into the game and only some fine goalkeeping, at times desperate defending and lack of that bit of extra quality in the final third denied them getting anything from the game.

Despite 2 defeats from the first 2 games, it is still early days with the new management team and new players still coming to terms with demands of the league and beginning to gel. Parkway have shown glimpses in both games of the standards of which they are clearly capable and now need to show more consistency over the whole 90 minutes of games and continue to build on what they have shown so far.

The next opportunity for that will be a visit to Havant & Waterlooville on Saturday where another tough challenge is envisaged against a side relegated from the National League South last season.