Play seemed promising as Gloucester pushed the Chatham defence. Play from Paul Rosenbaum down the right side drove a quick ball up to the top of the D. A raised deflection from Dave Keen onto Callum Howard lead to their first goal. The grass field proved challenging for both Chatham and Gloucester and many balls missed their mark between players.

Gloucester however continued to push at Chatham’s defence and a hit from Mark Coombs just inside the D struck the back of the goal through the keeper’s right side. Chatham, still determined, begun to capitalise on the uneven ground by flicking over the Panther’s defence and their centre half drove a commanding hit into the goal to take the score to score to 2-1 leading into the second half.

Chatham came back strong in the second half and were quick to level up the scores with another goal from centre half, ‘Cookie’. Not to be outdone, Dale Tonks moved up through the forward defence and was able to take advantage of an open space, scoring his first goal for the game and Gloucester’s third for the match.

Chatham were persistent however as they continued to push Gloucester’s defence and with ten minutes remaining, they too scored their third goal for the match. No side was able to relax throughout the match with multiple opportunities just missing their mark on the bumpy terrain for both teams. As the final whistle blew both teams had to be content with a draw, Gloucester’s first for the season.

The Panthers now have one game remaining for the season against second placed team, the Taree Sharks, this Thursday night in Taree.

The Panthers have already secured their place in the semi-finals to be played on September 1 at 6:30pm in Taree.

The team would love any supporters to get behind them during the finals.