Gloucestershire 354 (J Taylor 112, Charlesworth 72, van der Gugten 4-66) and 35 for 1 beat Glamorgan 137 (Cooke 60, Payne 4-25, Mile 4-42) and 251 (van der Gugten 60*, Lloyd 54, Miles 4-47, M Taylor 5-81) by nine wickets
Scorecard
Glamorgan suffered a sixth consecutive defeat in Division Two of the Specsavers County Championship as Gloucestershire wrapped up a nine-wicket victory inside eight overs, chasing just 35 runs to win on the final day.
Despite their position rooted to the bottom of the table, Glamorgan's head coach Robert Croft said a young squad had to remain positive about their ability to improve results.
"These boys are working their butts off, they honestly are," Croft said. "We've got to continue doing that. Two games left to put massive technical changes in would be a big challenge. We're continually examining them and working with them on how they're playing and quite clearly, we haven't quite got the hang of it as far as performances on the field.
"A disappointing performance, but we are continually working hard. There's some players who have been asked a hell of a lot of this season. Every player on our staff, at some stage or another, has been in our first team through injuries and form, etc. What we've got to do is keep talking about the belief, about when they have played well and reinforcing that because it's very easy to slip into that negative mindset."
At 150 for 8 in their second innings, it was a match which Glamorgan should have lost on the third day, only for Timm van der Gugten and Kieran Bull to help them into a slender lead. They began the final day 18 runs ahead, with van der Gugten on a career-best 58 not out.
The Australian-born Dutchman looked on as his captain Michael Hogan showed attacking intent from the outset, doubling his tally of runs in the first over of the day as he dispatched Matt Taylor for two well-struck boundaries. However, he was eventually bowled by the left-arm seamer, who claimed his fifth wicket of the innings and his seventh of the match as Glamorgan were dismissed for 251.
Exchanging bat for ball, van der Gugten's resistance continued in the first over of the visitors' second innings when he trapped Miles Hammond lbw for nought to claim his fifth wicket of the match.
However, Gloucestershire's chase got going when skipper Chris Dent guided a Hogan delivery down to the third man boundary and then in the following over, drove van der Gugten through backward point for four before James Bracey flicked off his pads to add a boundary of his own. Victory came when Dent struck Hogan back over his head.
"It's pretty hard to sugarcoat it, to be honest with you," Hogan said. "I think the second innings, eight, nine, ten showed the top order what can be done if you invest some time and effort into your innings. To say the least, very disappointed.
"I think it's a confidence issue at the moment. We've played a lot of second eleven cricket against that exact Gloucestershire attack and there's six or seven boys in there that scored hundreds against them on tough wickets. Whether it's the case of playing in the first team and putting pressure on themselves, I don't know. They've done it as individuals before in tougher conditions.
"We've been crying out for a decent wicket like that, finally got one and still couldn't put a decent score on the board."
