Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
On a perfect night for football with no wind, chilly but dry and a decent size crowd the home support were looking forward to a close fought game.
From the kick off, Bishops Cleeve were on the attack and from a free kick Michael Jackson sneaked in on the blind side and saw his low header miss the near post.
Minutes later Ciren, with good passing, sent Joe Shepherd down the right wing who made his way to the by-line and hit a low hard cross in, which was well taken by James Nortei.
It was in the 10 minute when the game came alight. A good through ball beat the offside trap for Sam Collier to run clear for goal. His left footed shot was well saved, only to come back off the keeper and this time Collier made no mistake with a right foot shot beating the keeper at the near post giving Ciren the lead.
Bishops Cleeve came close on three occasions to levelling the score. Had it not been for Lee Clatworthy making some fine saves, especially the shot from Jackson who from 12 yards hit a thunderous shot which Lee got down to and pushed out for a corner. He made another similar save in the 24th minute.
The 29th minute, saw Collier break through on the left side, and fired a low hard shot that beat the keeper and also the far post. Aiden Bennett was booked for a foul in the 34th minnute, and the first half finished with Ciren holding onto a one-nil lead.
The second half started at a blistering pace and it was 3 minutes into the half that saw Matt Sysum get a yellow card. From the free kick, the ball was floated into the back post where Matt Liddiard rose and flicked a header past the keeper into the corner of the net to bring the visitors level. Bishops Cleeve nearly increased their tally after Carl Brown ripped the ball past Clatworthy only to see the ball ricochet off the post.
However, in the 53rd minute, Brown made no mistake to give Bishops Cleeve the lead.
Ciren levelled the score when after a Ben Wells corner, Matt Sysum's header was tipped onto the bar by James Nortei and the ball leaked out to the far post where Alex Allard was on hand to knock it in.
Ciren for the first time in the match now had purpose and picked up their game. In the 68th minute Collier spotted the keeper off his line and he intelligently lobbed the ball which the keeper managed to back peddle and punch away. Mortimer-Jones followed up and saw his shot well saved. Minutes later Aiden Bennett burst through, beat two defenders and his attempted shot at goal was deflected out for a corner.
In the last six minutes, everything went terribly wrong for Ciren with all the damage being done by Ciren’s former player Carl Brown. In the 84th minute, a through ball split the Ciren defence, Brown was first to the ball and with only the keeper to beat, he made no mistake burying the ball into the corner of the net.
A minute later Danny Hale came on for Scott Griffin and in the last minute of the game Ciren had a corner which was to be our last chance to get something out of the game. From the corner the ball was cleared into the Ciren half. Brown nicked the ball off Bennett on the edge of the box and, facing his own goal, he made a clever turn, moved towards goal, and then smashed the ball past Clatworthy for his hat-trick, giving Bishops Cleeve all three points.
Full Time Cirencester 2-4 Bishops Cleeve.
Attendance: 68
Referee: Robin Cox
Cirencester Town:
1. Lee Clatworthy
2. Alex Allard
3. Aiden Bennett
4. Matt Sysum (C)
5. Ben Wells
6. Nathan Hawkins
7. Joe Shepherd
8. James Mortimer-Jones
9. Sam collier
10. Scott Griffin
11. Sam Packer
12. Sean Bailey
14. Danny Hale (on for Scott Griffin - 86 mins)
15. Ellis Dunton
16. Jon Beedon
Bishops Cleeve:
1. James Nortei
2. Jon Crowford
3. Sam Rawlings
4. Matthew Rose
5. Sam Avery
6. Jake Lee
7. Will Clayton
8. Michael Jackson (C)
9. Matt Liddiard
10. Carl Brown
11. Michael Davis
12. Lee Davis
14. Alex Hoyle
15. Michael Tambling
16. Ian Sercombe
17. Stuart Midwinter