Moors were beaten on the road by Gloucester City as a goal at the end of both halves ensured all three points remained at The TigerTurf Stadium on Saturday.
Jason Ainsley was forced into a late change after Connor Shanks suffered an injury during the warm-up so his place in the starting line-up went to Liam Ravenhill.
It was Gloucester who started the better, keen to try and catch Moors cold following their long journey, and with in-form Dom McHale looking to pull the strings.
Indeed, Dan Langley had to be alert to prevent McHale from sweeping in the opening goal after great work down the left from Tope Obedayi – the Moors keeper reacted well to block the low strike with his feet.
For Moors, Reece Kendall came close to finding the net when he met Joe Tait’s long diagonal ball with a looping header which had Tigers keeper Brandon Hall scurrying across his goal before looping just wide of the far post.
Moors came back into the game and began to knock the ball around with more confidence, Glen Taylor coming close with a powerful strike from a tight angle which was well blocked by Hall.
However, on 40 minutes the home side scored. A ball was played square to Owen Evans 25 yards out and he let fly with a sweet strike on his left foot which flashed past Langley on its way into the top right hand corner of the net.
Moors began the second half in more controlled fashion and began knocking the ball around with confidence as they probed for an opening in a very organised Gloucester defence.
However, despite dominating the ball, Ainsley’s side struggled to find the invention needed to unlock the home rearguard as The Tigers sat back and held firm.
There was a decent opening for the dangerous Kendall as he ghosted in at the back post to meet Paul Blackett’s deep free-kick but he nodded his header wide of the post.
Ravenhill then played a pair of neat one-twos to find some space on the right side of the penalty area but his shot across goal was parried away by Hall.
Even in injury time, Moors kept on going but another free-kick in from Blackett was nodded straight at the keeper by Kendall.
As they pressed forward from another free-kick, Moors were then caught on the break by a fast Gloucester counter-attack. A ball down the left found Kieran Phillips and he traded passes with Evans before placing a low shot past Langley for 2-0.
Full Time: Gloucester City 2 Moors 0
Gloucester City: Hall, Tiensia, Evans, Nirrenold, James, Nugent, Morgan, Berkeley-Agyepong, McHale (O’Sullivan 37), Obadeyi, Phillips.
Subs not used: Jones, Demira, Barnes-Homer, Hill.
Booked: Nirrenold (76), Nugent (88)
Moors: Langley, Wombwell, Curtis, Tait, Kendall, Ravenhill (Lufudu 81), Ross, Ramshaw, McKeown (Snelgrove 81), Blackett, Taylor.
Subs not used: Flatters, Ledger, Thompson.
Booked: Ross (27), Curtis (56), Taylor (63), Ravenhill (68)
Referee: Matthew Scholes
Attendance: 672
