32.jpg)
First Team Win 3-0 Away at Abingdon United
Cirencester Town travelled to Evo-Stik South West side Abingdon Utd on Saturday in their final pre-season game before they kick off against St Albans next Saturday.
Cirencester were a little slow out of the starting blocks but then had a series of Tom Etheridge long throws down the left. From one of these they took the lead in the 23rd minute with Matt Sysum coming up from the back and finding space in a crowded box to head into the far corner to put Cirencester 1-0 up.
Abingdon Utd bounced back with firstly Ben McCready testing Cirencester Town goalkeeper Danny Greaves with a long range free kick which Greaves made a comfortable save down to his left.
Five minutes later it was former Cirencester Town midfielder Shaun Wimble who stung Greaves hands with a free kick from wide on the left and Abingdon looked to get back in the game before half time but failed to show the real cutting edge to get the goal they required.
Cirencester Town started the second half in brighter fashion with both Tom Etheridge and Ellis Dunton getting shots in within five minutes of the second half starting with Etheridge hitting the bar with a rasping drive. Abingdon replied by going straight up the other end with Steve Davies forcing Greaves to make a fine save and a combination of Greaves and Arndale blocking out the follow up shot.
With Cirencester struggling to sustain possession with passes going astray frequently this allowed Abingdon plenty of the ball but they still lacked the cutting edge to get back into the game despite a number of good chances. At this point both sides made a number of changes with Andy Gunn, Paul Banks and Jamie Reid coming on for Matt Sysum, Jody Bevan and Tom Etheridge.
The game started to open up with both sides getting into some great positions but again missed chances were the order of the day. With twenty minutes remaining young Mark Ford, making his debut, and Adam Mayo came on for Neil Arndale and Mike Tamblin and it was Ford who was to show some trickery and slot David Stone through who finished casually slotting past Abingdon keeper James Foster with the ball hitting both posts before crossing the line to make it 2-0 with eight minutes remaining.
Finishing the game strongly it was Stone who could have made it three late on when Foster got down well to his right to deny him a second goal. However Stone made amends in the 88th minute as he set Paul Banks free and his shot rifled in off the stunned Foster in the Abingdon goal to make it 3-0.
In the last couple of minutes Abingdon could have scored a late consolation goal but Greaves was in the right place again to beat out a stinging drive at the back post to maintain the teams clean sheet.
Although not the fluent confident performance manager Brian Hughes would have been looking for on the eve of the season, the defence showed some resolve with Greaves, Arndale, Mansell and Westlake and Sysum working hard to keep a clean sheet, something the side lacked consistently last season.
Team: Danny Greaves, Neil Arndale, Richard Mansell (C), Matt Sysum, Zak Westlake, Tom Etheridge, James Mortimer-Jones, Ellis Dunton, Jody Bevan, David Stone, Mike Tambling.
Subs: Adam Mayo, Andy Gunn, Paul Banks, Jamie Reid, Mark Ford (All used)
Steve Hale
This entry was posted on 06 August 2011 at 19:52. You can leave a response here.
Bookmark with: