Cirencester Town FC
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Cirencester Town FC welcomed to the Corinium Stadium North Leigh for the first home game of the season. This was on the back of a fine win away at Mangotsfield.
From the kick of, Ciren went straight into action and within ten minutes had three good opportunities. First with Mortimer-jones from 25 yards unleashed a low powerful shot which Sam Warrell in the North Leigh goal did well to hold. Minutes later a similar effort came from Allard bringing another good save from the keeper.Then, after 7 minutes and from a corner, Matt Sysum headed on to Allard but the ball was too high and he was only able to put on a glancing header which went over the North Leigh bar.
It was not until the 20th minute before North Leigh had their first real attack at goal when the skilful and quick Michael Hopkins fired in a low cross which just beat the advancing North Leigh strikers.
For the remainder of the first half it was very much even honours and the first half finished goalless.
The second half started similar to the first with Ciren on the attack. The 50th minute saw good play, and with a penetrating ball into the goalmouth, the ball was cleared only as far as Ben Wells who from 25 yards hammered the ball which flew just over the bar. Three minutes later another fine effort saw a Jamie Reid shot fly just wide.
The game swung into North Leigh's favour in the 59th minute, when a cross from Sanders was met by John Mills whose powerful header found the back of the Ciren net.
Three minutes later Mills scored again with another headed goal, and in the 68th minute North Leigh had another good opportunity when Alexis brought out a fine save from Matt Bath.
In the 65th min Griffin replaced Bailey, before Jamie Reid was booked for retaliating after being fouled.
From a corner after 75 mins, Matt Sysum smashed in a goal with a great volley.
In the 75th min Reid was shown a second yellow for what appeared to be a late tackle, and Ciren were now down to 10 men.
With 10 mins remaining, Aiden Bennett came on for Sam Packer and went very close to levelling the match, after a good strike. It was in the 93rd minute when that man Mills, from a cross, found himself unmarked in the 10 yard box and he fired the ball into the net giving Bath no chance.
The game finished with North Leigh winning 3-1.
Attendance 106
Cirencester Town:
1. Matt Bath
2. Sean Bailey
3. Ellis Dunton
4. Matt Sysum (C)
5. Ben Wells
6. Chris Thompson
7. Jamie Reid
8. James Mortimer-Jones
9. Sam Collier
10. Alex Allard
11. Sam Packer
12. Scott Griffin (on for Sean Bailey - 65 mins)
14. Aiden Bennett (on for Sam Packer - 80 mins)
15. Joe Shepherd
16. Nathan Hawkins
17. Danny Hale
North Leigh:
1. Sam Warrell
2. Stuart Hole (C)
3. James Organ
4. Wayne Turk
5. Tom Franklin
6. Andy Caton
7. Kieran Sanders
8. Michael Alexis
9. John Mills
10. Jon Else
11. Michael Hopkins
12. Owen Collins
14. Zak Westlake
15. Toby Clarke
16. Lewis Coyle