STEVE Riley tipped Gloucester City for a play-off place after they condemned his Bashley side to a heavy defeat last night.

The New Forest outfit went down 3-0 in the Southern League Premier Division clash after falling victim of two brilliant first-half strikes.

Luke Ballinger handed the hosts a 39th-minute lead with a 25-yard rocket, before Mike Symons doubled the advantage in similar style three minutes later.

The quickfire goals left Bash with far too much to do and the result was put beyond doubt 10 minutes into the second period when Symons completed the scoring.

"The first two goals knocked the stuffing out of us," said Riley.

"We were against the wind and the elements in the first half and had to dig in, which we did for 39 minutes.

"But then they scored two 25-yard top-corner strikes from their only two chances. That killed us."

Riley, whose side went into the game on the back of two successive victories, added: "It definitely wasn't a 3-0 game, the scoreline didn't reflect how we played.

"I think they're a top-four side and we matched them, but got beaten by two class strikes."

Bash striker Richard Gillespie had a goal disallowed for offside when the score was 0-0.