Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
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Cirencester Town’s youngsters took on Binfield FC’s youngsters in the final of the Chairmans Hellenic Reserve Challenge Cup last Wednesday.
With over 100 people making the journey to Milton (of whom at least 70 were from Cirencester) the youngsters were understandably nervous as Binfield kicked off. We should have known what kind of refereeing we were going to see when Shayne Bumphrey was penalised twice in the first minutes for “shirt pulling”, however the first real action came in the 4th minute when Liam O’Brien launched a long throw into the box which was flicked on by Jack Smith and narrowly missed Bumphrey.
Lee Clatworthy was called on early as Binfield broke only to shoot straight at the Ciren keeper. This was how the first 15 minutes went as Cirencester attacked but could not find the opening they needed until the 17th minute when Kyle Pitts struck a beautifully straight drive which was saved superbly by the Binfield keeper. The resulting corner was not cleared by the defence and Shayne Bumphrey bundled the ball home.
Binfield did not get disheartened and immediately went on the attack. There was now a slightly strange decision from the ref when he waved play on for what looked like a penalty only to give a penalty for an innocuous shoulder to shoulder that the Binfield player lost. The penalty was struck hard but was brilliantly saved by Clatworthy. The rest
of the half was played from one end to the other with Clatworthy called upon to make another save and Jack Smith and Bumphrey unable to break the offside trap.
Half Time: Binfield FC 0 Cirencester Town 1
The second half followed went much the same way as the first with both teams trying to break down the other. Ollie Pitt was brought on in place of Luke Allen in the 51st minute
to add some fresh legs to the attack and he was immediately in the action only to see the ball run away from him after a good move from the midfield.
In the 58th minute Pitt spotted the charging Bumphrey and put the ball through for him to run onto however, the resulting shot hit the side netting. From the goal kick that followed the Binfield forward was put through and Clatters was called upon to make another save as he made himself big to smoother the ball.
Shortly afterward Tim Bond met acorner ball with a bullet like header that scrapped the top of the bar. Messy now brought on Tom Jehu and Dan Hill to replace James Smith and Kieran Jones to add fresh legs to the proceedings.
The last real action of the half saw Bumphrey receive the ball of the half way line and break down the wing, O’Brien charged down the middle ‘requesting’ the bar but unfortunately the cross didn’t reach him.
There was relief and jubilation from the Cirencester team when the final whistle was blown.
This was not a game for the purists but when is a cup final ever a game for the purists.
The coach going home was a very happy and noisy one.
Team: Clatworthy, James Smith (Jehu 65), James, Jones (Hill 68), Pitts, Bond, Allen (Pitt 51), O’Brien, Jack Smith, Bumphrey, Roberts