Steve Bates fielded a mixed side, with Danny Williams, Spencer Davey, Rob Miller, Hall Charlton, Jon Golding, Rob Vickers, Micky Ward and Tim Swinson joining a number of first team regulars including captain Phil Dowson.

Gloucester started the game better with Olly Barkley missing a penalty and Williams being forced into some try-saving defence on the right.

Indeed, we didn't get into Gloucester's half until almost 20 minutes had been played, but from a lineout the ball was brought right and Golding forced his way over, although the score was initially given to Ed Williamson, outstanding all day.

Miller converted, but Gloucester got back into the game before half time with two penalties.

The interval saw a little bit of controversy involving a couple of members of the South Stand Choir, AKA “You lot at the back”. I expect more details might emerge in the coming days.

But back to the game, and in the second half the visitors again dominated in terms of possession and territory, as we only survived through some heroic defending and a strong scrum.

The inevitable replacements improved things little, although Micky Young added some of his customary fire. Another missed penalty by Gloucester made it look like it could be our day as replacement fly-half Rory Clegg booted over a penalty on a rare visit to the away 22.

For much of the last quarter Gloucester camped in our 22 battling for the try which would probably win them the game. It looked to be in vain, as the Falcons repeatedly infringed and tried to run the clock down.

15 minutes, 10 minutes, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4... I for one was getting quite nervous. Obviously competition-wise we had nothing to gain by winning yesterday, but any win is a good one considering our general form.

But it wasn't to be, as replacement Apolosi Satala finally scored with less than four minutes to go. It went unconverted however, giving us a slight chance still.

However, we were unable to break through Gloucester on halfway (funny how we now ran everything, when we only had two minutes and were stuck in our own half), but eventually lost the ball and the game.

Gloucester had booked themselves a trip to Coventry, while the Falcons had ended their fourth go at this much-derided competition with our worst performance yet, three losses and just a single point.

If, as has been rumoured and is apparently supported by Steve Bates (he does make sense sometimes you know), the EDF groups at least will be played during the autumn friendlies next season, I think that'd be a good thing.

Get the top players playing in the Premiership, where every game is key, rather than a competition which for half the teams is pretty much over after the first game.

Back to our team, I suppose we can take heart from only conceding one try and 11 points to a talented Gloucester side which many predicted would do us by 20 (whether that meant 10-30 or 30-50 I'm not sure), although they did miss three place kicks. But I'm sure there wouldn't be much praise if we hadn't been winning most of the game.

Rob Miller looked OK, not as good as Clegg has on occasion perhaps, but he has the potential to be a good player. Steve Jones was again solid at full-back. If only Tom May would follow Jones' example, and run after kicks rather than ambling as he tends to. Our second choice props backed up by Jonny Williams off the bench also held their own against Gloucester's highly-rated front row.

So our five cup games to prepare for the tough but vital league matches in November have seen four defeats. Hopefully some decent work has still been done and will be done again over the coming fortnight, because we really could do with beating Irish.

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