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'Levens' get even with Centurions in GFA Trophy
GFA Challenge Trophy
First Round
Cirencester Town 0 – 2 Longlevens
CIRENCESTER TOWN faced Longlevens AFC for the second time in four days and, rather surprisingly, reversed Saturday’s result to progress further in the GFA Trophy.
It was a much-changed side for the Centurions due to either injury (Jack Horrell and Dave Bampton) or unavailability (Aidan Bennett, who had work commitments).
Consequently, manager James Mortimer-Jones brought in recent arrival Ed Scott at centreback, while Jayden Stratford and Bonsa Teshome started up front.
The first half was a closely fought affair, with both sides playing some neat, passing football.
The first real chance came when Bonsa Teshome skipped past two Longlevens defenders to send a low cross into the box. It was Harrison Reeves who just failed to add the finishing touch. A few minutes later the roles were reversed when Reeves sent Teshome away on the right edge of the penalty area, but his well drilled effort was smothered by ‘Levens’ ‘keeper Kane Winman.
Slightly against the run of play, it was the visitors who opened the scoring on 24 minutes. Longlevens left back Sam Kelly found wide man VLAD YARMOLENKO free some 40 yards from goal. Turning smartly with the ball at his feet, he gracefully shimmied past his marker and placed his shot just inside the far post.
It was a wake- up call for the home side – when they took to the pitch for the second half they were in determined mood. This led to a number of early corners but Longlevens defended resolutely and always looked dangerous ‘on the break’.
Midway through the second half, Cirencester Town found themselves two down. A quick counter by ‘Levens’ ended with a cross to the far side of the penalty area where substitute JOEY HASWELL applied a cool finish.
In fairness to the Centurions, they never gave up trying to get something from the game, particularly Fin Bell, who ran and looked to create openings for the full 90 minutes. Another big plus for the home side was U18s player Afonso Dias who, from the subs bench, made a number of darting runs and looked very lively in his little cameo appearance. But, it was Longlevens who stood firm to deservedly progress into the next round.
Click here to view a match report.
This entry was posted on 13 November 2024 at 20:25 and is filed under First Team | Miscellaneous. You can leave a response here.
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