Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
Cirencester Town picked up a well deserved point against 4th in the table Oxford City on Saturday.
This was their second 0-0 draw in the last two games and although manager Brian Hughes will have been disappointed in the sides failure to score in these two games he will have been very happy with the two clean sheets.
Oxford City got off to the better start and could have taken the lead in the 1st minute when Felipe Barcelos found space between Jared Wilson and Andy Gunn but headed wide when unchallenged. This was perhaps the slice of luck that has evaded Town this season so far and they grew into this game on a poor pitch with a swirling wind which made it a poor spectacle for supporters of both sides.
Town's first clear cut chance came on 28 minutes when Jamie Reid hit a screamer of a left foot half volley only to see the evergreen Keith McCloughlin in the City goal pull off a save to match, full length down to his left at the expense of a corner.
Two minutes later Jon Else cannoned a free kick into the wall and Jared Wilson just couldn't quite keep his follow up effort down as his shot whistled just over the bar.
It was another great strike this time from City's Jack Ashton which had supporters on their feet but the City faithful were to be disappointed as Kev Sawyer in the Town goal went full length to his left acrobatically to tip the ball over the bar to the scoreline blank.
In the final minute of the first half Town nearly caught McCloughlin out with a hopeful punt into the box which saw the goalkeeper forced to help the bouncing ball over the crossbar while under pressure from Ben Reardon.
The second half saw clearcut chances few and far between with the next opportunity going to City when captain Wayne Blossom rose well at a corner only to see his powerful header cleared off the line by the covering Jamie Reid.
The game became scrappy with just a couple of goalmouth scrambles at either end before Town had a good chance to win it in the 83rd minute when a ball over the top from Jared Wilson saw Jamie Reid hook his volley over the on-coming McCloughlin only to see it fall just wide of the vacant goal.
Town withstood a flurry of corners at the death to secure a well deserved point.
Manager Brian Hughes will have been pleased with the result and the dogged performance. Young development player Jamie Dunn made his full league debut at the heart of the defence and both he and fellow centre half Andy Gunn put in an excellent display to keep City hotshot Lee Steele quiet all game. In the midfield the trio of Reid, Nathan Davies and James Mortimer-Jones covered a lot of ground both defensively and in a bid to support lone front man Mitchell Bryant who also worked tirelessly for the side.
Attendance: 235
Referee: Andrew Aylott
Oxford City:
1 Keith McCloughlin
2 James Clarke
3 Adam Learoyd
4 Andy Ballard
5 Marvin Martin
6 Wayne Blossom (C)
7 Jamie Heapy
8 Declan Benjamin
9 Felipe Barcelos
10 Lee Steele
11 Jack Ashton
12 Liam Malone (on for Heapy 46 mins)
14 Reece Fleet (on for Ballard 82 mins)
15 Alex Fisher (on for Benjamin 66 mins)
Cirencester Town:
1 Kevin Sawyer (C)
2 Jared Wilson
3 Jack Harris
4 Andy Gunn
5 Nathan Davies
6 Jamie Dunn
7 Jamie Reid (Booked)
8 James Mortimer-Jones
9 Ben Reardon
10 Mitch Bryant
11 Jon Else (Booked)
12 Adam Mayo
14 Ellis Dunton
15 Ben Hunt (on for Bryant 75 mins)