Southern League – Premier Division

2015-16

Cirencester Town   0 – 1   King’s Lynn Town   

Match Report by Dave Pyzer  

The third home match of the season brought newcomers King’s Lynn Town to the Corinium Stadium. ‘The Linnets’ were transferred from the Northern League Premier Division to the Southern League Premier Division during the ‘Closed Season’ and prior to the game they had obtained three points in their first four games - due to a victory against Cambridge City who are Cirencester’s next opponents.

The Cirencester starting eleven was unchanged from that which secured a superb away win at Paulton Rovers in mid-week. Gethin Jones took a seat on the bench having recovered from the ‘dead-leg’ he sustained against Hitchin Town.

The home side kicked-off playing towards the Arena end of the ground, on an extremely warm day with a slight diagonal wind blowing across the pitch into their faces, and immediately applied some early pressure on their visitors.

A few minutes into the game Glyn Garner threw the ball to Ian Herring who made ground down the right flank before moving the ball on to Josh Parsons on half way. He drew an opponent before slipping the ball out to Aidan Bennett on a charge down the flank. Bennett took the ball to the corner where his cross was blocked to result in a corner kick. Zack Kotwica took the kick and sent the ball to the back post where Leigh Henry headed wide of the left post.

Three minutes later Henry was again in the action in the visitor’s penalty area as he attempted to latch on to a header from the left side of the area by Ellis Dunton following a free kick in the centre circle (right side) but he miscued his effort to the left of the penalty spot. Parsons nearly got to the loose ball before it was cleared.

The Linnets responded to this scare by counter-attacking down their left flank and when the ball reached Lee Stevenson he cut inside to his right and shot wide of the left post from the left front edge of the area but there had been contact and a corner kick was awarded. When the kick came in Herring (under pressure at the near post) headed behind to concede another corner kick. This time the kick was too long and resulted in a goal kick.

The visitor’s were becoming more confident and following a break down their right flank the ball broke to David Bridges, to the right of the penalty spot, and he struck a fierce left footed shot that Garner did well to save with his legs. The ball rebounded to Michael Clunan, just outside the 6 yard box, and Garner pulled off an amazing save from close range to deny the Linnets player who was flagged ‘offside’ when he reacted to the loose ball.

With fifteen minutes on the clock Stevenson again received a ball on the left and shot wide of the left post from 25 yards, left of centre. A minute later it was Clunan who decided to shoot from 40 yards, right channel, and his effort was deflected wide for corner kick that Garner stretched to catch. This latter effort was to prove to be a practice for Clunan.

A clearance kick from the Centurions reached Charlie Griffin further down the left flank and he moved the ball inside to Parsons, in the left channel of the penalty area, and the resultant shot was saved just inside the left post by ‘ keeper Alexander Street.

As the mid-point of the half approached Garner threw the ball out to Herring on the right but the ball clipped the defenders heels and this enabled Clunan to win the ball – again he cut inside and shot from 25 yards but Garner saved comfortably.

It appeared at this stage that the visitor’s were applying a ‘shoot-on-sight’ policy and they were not afraid to shoot from distance, and their lively play in midfield was causing problems for Cirencester who were struggling to retain possession.

Near the half hour mark of the half Griffin, in the centre circle, headed the ball on to Parsons and he in turn moved the ball out to Bennett on the right flank and Bennett’s shot was blocked for a corner kick that the visitors defence cleared.

Bennett then won two tackles near the right touch-line, moved forward, cut inside and fired a left footed shot from 25 yards that curled wide of the right post.

Within a minute Parsons collected the ball on the left flank, cut-in towards the front edge of the area, dummied to shoot and moved right before firing a firm shot that Street saved inside his right post.

Cirencester were pressing and when a Griffin header was partially blocked it fell to Kotwica, on the left front edge of the penalty area, and he struck a firm shot that was deflected for a left wing corner kick.

Despite this pressure it was the visitor’s who scored as MICHAEL CLUNAN won the ball 10 yards inside the Cirencester half, slightly right of centre, and immediately drove a fierce shot goalwards. The bullet-like strike arrowed towards the top left corner of the goal and clipped the inside of the left post before entering the net.  0-1.

Two minutes later Cirencester responded with a break down the right channel as Parsons fed Bennett who carried the ball forward to the side edge of the area. Bennett then squared the ball across the box for Kotwica to finish but the joy was short-lived as the Assistant Referee had raised his flag to indicate ‘offside’ earlier in the move.

The final goal-mouth action was at the Cirencester end as the Linnets made a break down their right and pulled the ball back from the bye-line towards the penalty spot where the home defence cleared.

Half Time:       0 – 1

Within three minutes of the re-start Griffin nearly latched on to a back–pass to Street but the ‘keeper managed to get to the ball first and launch it off the pitch.

A few minutes later Leigh Henry cleared the ball towards the left corner where Griffin chased it down, cut back and rolled the ball across the box to Parsons who performed some fast footwork to get past two defenders and get his shot away but it was blocked by the determined visitors defence.  

Ten minutes into the half the Linnets attacked down their right flank through Bridges who crossed to the back post but an unmarked Liam Hurst just failed to get his head to the cross.

Almost immediately Cirencester won a corner kick on their left which the visitors successfully defended - sending the ball down field to produce a 3 versus 2 counter-attack that Brad Hooper brought to an end as he intercepted a cross-field pass.  

As the Centurions pushed forward for an equaliser they produced a move on the left that involved a series of passes between Ross Langworthy, Kotwica, Mortimer-Jones and Dunton, back to Kotwica and inside to Langworthy as they travelled from half way to 10 yards outside the visitors area. Once there Langworthy took on the shot but it cleared the bar.  

At the mid-point of the half Kotwica collected the ball in the Cirencester half and drove down the right channel at pace until he was stopped by a tackle 15 yards inside his opponents half that earned the responsible party a Yellow Card.

As the match entered the last quarter of an hour Cirencester produced some sustained pressure on the right flank that led to a deep cross from Herring to the back post where Parsons collected the ball, cut right on the side edge of the 6 yard box, and shot into the side netting.

With seven minutes of normal time remaining Ollie Knight fed Bennett on the left and as Bennett rounded Ross Watson on the side edge of the area the defender managed to get a toe to the ball to concede a throw. Dunton launched the ball into the box and when it was cleared it fell to Ben Wells who passed it back to Dunton who sent a measured cross to the back post where Knight rose to head against the right post. Street then dropped on the ball to prevent any further threat on his goal.

In time-added-on Cirencester threw caution to the wind in an attempt to get the goal that would level the score - resulting in a corner kick from the left followed by one from the right that produced a goal-mouth scramble with several players from both sides hacking at the ball but King’s Lynn held on to secure the victory and three points.      

Final Score:     0 - 1

Following the terrific performance at Paulton Rovers this was disappointing from the Centurions as they were unable to retain possession for long as their busy opponents closed them down quickly. They rarely got behind the Linnets defence who remained resolute throughout but having said that King’s Lynn had similar problems against a home defence in which Ben Brown and Leigh Henry were prominent.

The goal was a tremendous strike from distance that eliminated the Cirencester defence and it will probably be a long time before the scorer repeats the feat.  

Attendance:     126                              

Referee:          Dale Wootton