Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
32.jpg)
Cirencester Town welcomed Forest Green Rovers to the Corinium Stadium for a pre-season friendly on Tuesday evening.
The team sheet was an interesting read with seven new faces. It was also good to see the return of Matt Sysum after being out for most of last season through injury and with James Mortimer-Jones on holiday, Matt took the captains arm band.
From the kick off Ciren with the wind behind them made a very promising start and after eight minutes Jamie Reid had the first shot of the match which was blocked by FGR Brandon Mundy. Within three minutes FGR had a free kick and from 35 yards Morgan fired the ball which clipped the top of the Ciren bar.
It was after 23 minutes when Ciren bought the FGR keeper into action, tipping the ball over the bar after a great free kick from Ben Wells. Ciren were now putting FGR under a lot of pressure and it was in the 28th minute that Ellis Dunton made a run down the left flank and then crossing a super ball into the box which found the Ciren forward Sam Packer on the right of the box to fire the ball past Rob Brown the FGR keeper.
The rest of the half continued in the same vain with Ciren having most of the possession.
Half Time, Cirencester 1-0 Forest Green Rovers.
Straight from the re-start Ciren were back on the attack and with a great chance in front of goal, Sam Collier saw his shot deflected past the post by a FGR defender. It was in the 53rd minute that FGR had a free kick and from 35 yards Morgan fired high over the bar. 3 minutes later it was like the charge of the light brigade as Hughes’y bought on 6 substitutes!
In the 58th minute FGR’s No 7, Morgan, crossed a delightful ball into the box for Ethan Moore to level the score with a fine headed goal. Within 2 minutes after a quick break, the ball was back in the Ciren goal area and after 3 shots from the FGR forwards the ball was eventually collected by Matt Bath the Ciren keeper.
In the 63rd minute Ciren retained their lead when Ben Wells fired the ball into the FGR goal area and from 6 yards Alex Allard drilled the ball into the FGR net. It could have been 3 as Liam O’Brien minutes later saw his chipped shot over the keeper, tantalisingly slip past the post.
In the 78th minute Scott Griffin was bought down and from the free kick Wells floated in a high ball into the penalty area which was met by Packer whose fine header clipped the far post and went out for a goal kick.
Final score Cirencester 2-1 Forest Green Rovers.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable game of football watched by a crowd of 105. For a team with seven new players, it would not be unreasonable to have expected Cirencester to need some time to gel, but it was to the contrary. They played like a team who had been together for years, and on tonight's showing we should all be in for an exciting season at the Corinium Stadium.
Andy Buchan