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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The above photos were supplied by Sally Ellis of the Coventry Telelgraph
The game got off to a very cagey start with both teams cancelling each other out. Both teams tried to get it down and pass it and kept probing but it wasn’t until the 18th minute that the first shot came in and in unusual circumstances at that.
After an offside decision, Kevin Sawyer in the Town goal placed the ball just ten yards outside his box and shaped to play down the right channel to Jamie Reid. At the last second he opened his body up and tried to go diagonally to Jon Else wide on the left but it actually sailed straight down the middle of the pitch. With the wind behind him and the surface slippery from the light rain it bounced up as visiting goalkeeper Lee Evans on his debut for Leamington started to advance but he just managed to stretch his 6ft 3” frame and tip the ball over the bar for a corner.
In the 25th minute it was nearly Leamington who took the lead when burly striker Jacob Blyth lost his marker at a Stephan Morley corner and just flicked wide of the Town goal.
On 28 minutes a great free kick from out wide by Richard Mansell was whipped across goal but Zak Westlake couldn’t put the finishing touches on it to score.
Cirencester Town took the lead when Mitch Bryant linked up well with Nathan Davies who expertly played the ball through for Paul Banks to run onto it and rifle it across Lee Evans and into the far corner.
On the stroke of half time it was Kevin Sawyer to the rescue when a ball into the box was met on the half volley from only 8 yards and Sawyer pulled off a brilliant reaction save diving to his left to parry away and keep the 1-0 lead intact.
The second half again started cautiously with only a deflected Jon Else shot from just outside the box being comfortably gathered by Evans.
In the 67th minute Town were dealt a blow when Captain, Richard Mansell landed awkwardly and immediately screamed out with pain. He was duly stretchered off the pitch with possible ligament damage to the knee. Ellis Dunton came on as an emergency left back for the remaining 23 minutes.
The dangerous Jacob Blyth nearly pulled Leamington level when once again from a cross he caused Town defenders problems winning the ball but again heading wide of goal.
At the other end James Mortimer-Jones nearly continued his record of “worldie” goals when his left foot volley from 25 yards cannoned back off the crossbar and to safety. However it was only seconds later when the ball was in the back of the Leamington net when Mitch Bryant was fed through and he found himself one on one with Lee Evans and he finished expertly into the far corner to make it 2-0 to Town with 20 minutes to go.
Leamington aren’t a top four side without reason though and they bounced straight back when from a corner Jamie Hood rose well to head into the far top corner to reduce the deficit.
With only a few minutes of normal time remaining Town worked to run the clock down keeping the ball well in the corner but still managed to create two good chances. Firstly Jamie Reid received the ball and cut inside and fired off a vicious shot which just went over and then in injury time after Reid had been brought down, Jon Else hit a cheeky free kick which clipped the post almost catching Evans out.
At the final whistle the joy for the Cirencester Town management team and supporters was clear to see and deservedly so as this was an excellent solid and purposeful performance and a good result against a good side.
New father Andy Gunn and his centre back partner Zak Westlake put in solid displays and the central midfield pairing of Nathan Davies and James Mortimer-Jones really is starting to blossom. With Mitch Bryant scoring his second goal on successive Saturdays and Paul Banks taking his goal really well, things are starting to look much brighter. This should give everyone further confidence for two cup encounters this week against Frome Town on Wednesday night and Carshalton Athletic next Saturday.
Attendance – 237
Referee – David Bryant
Cirencester Town:
1 Kev Sawyer
2 Jared Wilson
3 Richard Mansell (C)
4 Andy Gunn
5 Nathan Davies
6 Zak Westlake
7 Jamie Reid
8 James Mortimer-Jones
9 Paul Banks
10 Mitchell Bryant
11 Jon Else
12 Ellis Dunton (on for Richard Mansell - 67 mins)
14 Mark Ford (on for Paul Banks - 80 mins)
15 Oliver Pitt
Leamington:
1 Lee Evans
2 James Mace
3 Stephan Morley
4 Lee Downes (C)
5 Jamie Hood
6 Asa Charlton
7 Craig Owen
8 Alex Taylor
9 Jacob Blyth
10 Tom Berwick
11 Richard Batchelor
12 David Kolodynski
14 James Husband
15 Michael Tuohy
16 Sam Adkins
17 Dior Angus