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A DEPLETED Gloucester City side battled against a talented Bristol University in a closely-fought encounter at Plock Court.
The hosts started brightly and were ahead on the 10-minute mark when a quickly taken free hit aerial by Trevor Done found Andrew Tyrrell in acres of space.
Tyrrell transferred the ball to Scott Ellis, who calmly slotted home on his reverse for City to take the deserved lead.
Ellis' jubilation lasted all but five minutes.
With City failing to clear their lines, Ellis' brave diving tackle in his own circle led to him being struck across the forearm resulting in a broken wrist and City were now down to 10 men.
The 16-strong student squad duly equalised and then eventually took the lead before half-time.
City changed their formation after the break with Alex Tranter and skipper Pete Tyrrell continuing to work tirelessly in the heart of the midfield.
Bristol University finally scored their third after a dubious lifted free hit outside the D was missed by the umpires.
This led to a penalty corner for the visitors which was duly dispatched at the second time of asking.
City continued to defend gallantly with Mark Godwin pulling off an array of fine saves in the City goal and Grant Ward and Ketan Patel looking to get forward at every opportunity down the City flanks.
Tom Radford tackled well, frustrating the Bristol front-line at every occasion.
Mark Charania led the attack and was denied twice by the University goalkeeper, having been put through by Pete Tyrrell and Done respectively.
City finally got their just reward with three minutes to go when Charania's well struck penalty corner deflected kindly off a defensive stick, looping high into the goal.
Gloucester nearly equalised with seconds left on the clock, when Andrew Tyrrell spun at the top of the circle only to be denied by the goalkeeper.
GLOUCESTER CITY III 3 BLOCKLEY LADIES 5
A Swift start from Gloucester saw them take an early lead from a well taken short corner.
Blockley recovered and Olivia Drinkwater placed the first shot of her hat-trick.
A well executed reverse stick shot by Grace McLaughlin followed and she shared the Player of the match accolade with Fiona Drinkwater, whose runs into the opposition's circle melted the defence for the third.
Gloucester claimed a second again from short corner persistence after two initial saves.
After the interval Drinkwater completed her hat-trick and Gloucester battled for their third.
