Cirencester Town FC
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Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
Cirencester Town picked up a well deserved point away from home on Saturday against in-form Bedford Town who had won 5 out of their last 6 matches.
It was a nervy start for Town when after 6 minutes Mike Hedges in the Town goal had a rush of blood and came charging out for a through ball which he didn't get to but Town had a let off as Jermaine Ivy failed to take advantage firing his cross-shot wide of the goal. Less than a minute later and the league's top scorer Drew Roberts cut in from the left but his powerful drive was well held by Hedges making up for his earlier misjudgement.
Ellis Dunton went into the referee's notebook for blatantly obstructing the Bedford winger when it looked like he was going to get in behind the Town back-line and from the resulting free kick the Town defence just managed to scramble clear the danger.
It was from then on that Town started to find their way with Jon Else firing wide from distance on two occasions and then Andy Gunn had an effort cleared off the line from a corner.
In the 33rd minute it was Hedges to the rescue when the lively Gareth Price burst through one v one but Hedges stood big and made a good blocking save. He also followed this up minutes later when Roberts once again found space to drive the ball goalwards only for Hedges to save.
Just before half time Scott Griffin did well receiving the ball in the Bedford area and hooked a volley just over the Bedford goal before the half time whistle went to leave it 0-0 at the break.
Bedford thought they had scored just after half time when that man Roberts was put through and his shot beat Hedges only to ricochet back off the post and to safety much to Town's relief.
On 49 minutes Town thought they had scored when a great cross from Jamie Reid down the right was met on the volley from close range by Lee Smith but Ian Brown in the Bedford goal somehow managed to block the shot and turn it over the bar for a corner, much to the disbelief of the Town following.
Ian Brown went from hero to villain only 6 minutes later when Else shot from distance only for Brown to spill what seemed a comfortable save and Jamie Reid followed up to tap home and put Town 1-0 up.
Minutes later it was nearly two when Lee Smith cut inside and hit a left footed effort which looked destined for the top corner however the ball just swerved away to strike the corner of the crossbar and bounce to safety. Another glorious chance fell to Town when once again Brown was unable to hold onto a shot from the edge of the box and Griffin simply had to score from a yard out but much to everybody's amazement he somehow scooped the ball over and wide of the goal.
This missed proved costly when with only 9 minutes to goal Drew Roberts did well down the right and stood up an excellent cross to the back post which big Ollie Thorne headed back across goal for substitute James Hatch to head home to level the scores.
In the 88th minute Roberts thought he had won it when he shot with power to the far top corner of Hedges goal but Hedges threw himself full length to parry behind one handed for a corner.
It left for a frantic final few minutes of injury time where both teams had half chances to win the game before the final whistle went.
Referee: Mr T Power
Attendance: 251
Bedford Town:
1 Ian Brown
2 Max York
3 Aaron James
4 Jon Darby
5 Gavin Hoyte
6 Ollie Thorne
7 Gareth Price
8 Josh Beech
9 Jermaine Ivy
10 Drew Roberts
11 Tom Damon
12 Jamie Cole
14 Callum Lewis
15 Seb Simpson
16 James Hatch
20 Michael Kavanagh
Cirencester Town:
1 Mike Hedges (Booked)
2 Scott Claridge
3 Ellis Dunton (Booked)
4 Andy Gunn (Booked)
5 Jamie Reid
6 Zak Westake
7 Wayne Turk
8 James Mortimer-Jones
9 Lee Smith
10 Scott Griffin
11 Jon Else
12 Jody Bevan (On for Lee Smith - 71mins)
14 Jamie Dunn
15 Paul Banks