Cirencester Town FC
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Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
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Cirencester Town picked up a well earned and vital three points after a difficult trip to Arlesey on a cold and wet Tuesday evening after a near three hour coach journey.
Despite the bad weather the pitch was reasonably firm underneath with the top surface being slippy and in patches sticky but it made for a fast paced game. Town got off to a positive start when in the 9th minute Ben Reardon cut inside and struck a left footed shot that left the Arlesey goalkeeper Mark Osborn rooted as it clipped the top of the crossbar and went to safety.
Town were however indebted to their own goalkeeper Kevin Sawyer when in the 12th minute he firstly went full stretch to his right to parry a full blooded volley from the edge of the box from Dave Deeney. The ball was not cleared and as it was played back in again, the same player, Deeney, was once again on the end of it and again he hit a good volley which this time Sawyer went full stretch to his left to again parry to safety.
It was in the 28th minute that Town did take the lead though in a goalmouth scramble that saw the Town faithful convinced that at least one of James Mortimer-Jones two shots in quick succession had gone over the goal-line. However as the ball came out for the third time Ben Reardon followed up and his shot just about squeezed through a mass of bodies and did enter the goal to give Town an important one goal lead.
The lead was nearly increased shortly after as during another goalmouth scramble Arlesey goalkeeper Osborn managed to make a one handed parry and the ball was hacked clear.
The Arlesey manager had clearly give his team a half time roasting as Arlesey came out for the second half all guns blazing and with less than a minute on the clock Chris Marsh struck a wonderful shot which was matched once again by a brilliant full length save by Kevin Sawyer as it looked like the ball was heading for the top corner.
With Arlesey fighting to get back into the game and Town battling all over the pitch, the game became quite frantic and end to end but the next real clear cut chance fell to Mitchell Bryant for Town in the 60th minute when Osborn was lucky to get away with a fumble at his near post and was lucky to see it squirm out for a corner.
James Mortimer-Jones was the Town hero in the 70th minute when it looked like Arlesey had broken through on Kevin Sawyer's goal as he made a brilliant last ditch tackle to avert the danger.
Apart from a couple of half chances for substitute Ben Hunt the game petered out and Town secured a vital three points in their bid to avoid relegation.
Referee: Mr W Hardie
Attendance: 101
MOM: Kevin Sawyer
Arlesey Town:
1 Mark Osborn
2 Stefan Bailey
3 David Perpetunini
4 Ryan Frater (C)
5 Fabio Bufano
6 Stuart Sinclair
7 Chris Marsh
8 Dean Sinclair
9 Chris Dillon
10 Joel Mason
11 Dave Deeney
12 Lee Allinson
14 Jordan Browne
15 Jordan Patrick
16 Liam McGovern
17 Zema Abbey
Cirencester Town:
1 Kevin Sawyer (C)
2 Jared Wilson
3 Jamie Dunn
4 Andy Gunn
5 Nathan Davies
6 Charlie Comyn Platt
7 Jamie Reid
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 80 mins)