Cirencester Town FC
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Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
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Match Report by Dave Pyzer
Cirencester made the journey to Dorset to face Gillingham Town in the First Round Qualifying of The Emirates FA Cup.
Gillingham play in the Toolstation Westen League Premier Division and have a similar record to Cirencester as they have four points (won 1 & drawn 1) - but from only 4 games.
The Cirencester starting eleven had a couple of changes to last week as both Scott Bevan and James Mortimer-Jones were available and took their places at left back and midfield respectively. To accommodate this Aidan Bennett and Chris Taylor moved to the bench alongside Lee Smith and Kallum Youngsam.
The home side started proceedings on a damp day that became very wet due to heavy rain as the game progressed and immediately attacked down their left flank and eventually Haydon Hodges put the ball in the net but from an 'offside' position.
Cirencester responded with a low right footed shot from Ross Langworthy that home ‘keeper Jamie Beale gathered safely.
This was quickly followed by a series of corner kicks as first Matt Liddiard played Langworthy into the right corner where his cross was deflected for a corner kick from the left that resulted in a goal kick and then Adam Connolly won the ball in midfield and moved it to the left flank where James Mortimer-Jones, Scott Bevan and Langworthy worked it forward leading to a corner kick. Langworthy took the kick and when it was played back to him his cross led to another corner kick. This time his kick reached Connolly, 25 yards out, and his shot was deflected over the bar for yet another corner kick which was cleared by the home defence.
Cirencester nearly opened the scoring after 8 minutes when a series of passes on the right resulted in a cross to the far post where Charlie Griffin's header was saved low down as Beale dived to his right to push it round his post.
Ten minutes later Gillingham pushed forward, down their right flank, and after a throw-in the ball reached Lee Sweet who fired a right footed shot over the bar from 25 yards.
At the midpoint of the half Ollie Knight burst down the left and carried the ball to the by-line before passing to Langworthy, in the left channel of the penalty area, and he laid it back to Mortimer-Jones who chipped the ball forward to Liddiard as he moved from the right channel towards the centre front edge of the area. Liddiard struck a left footed volley that hit the outside of the left post and out of play for a goal-kick.
Cirencester were back again a minute later as Mortimer-Jones fed Langworthy, on to Liddiard – corner kick, cleared for a throw-in that led to another corner kick that Beale punched clear.
A few minutes later Harry Baker carried the ball down the right flank, cut back and fired a left footed shot that was deflected for a corner kick which reached Hodges and under pressure from a closing defender he fired wide of the target.
Just after the half hour mark Cirencester worked the ball down the right when Langworthy fed Mortimer-Jones on an overlap into the corner where he won a corner kick that Ben Brown headed wide at the back post.
Shortly afterwards Brown punted the ball downfield and when a home defender tried to send it back to his 'keeper Liddiard was on hand to collect, move forward and shoot wide of the right post.
Cirencester continued to push forward with more corner kicks and shots from Connolly and Brown but they were unable to get the break-through they were searching for.
As the half entered the final five minutes the home side mounted a couple of counter attacks with Harry Montacute, Will Agbo and Hodges involved. Agbo displayed some neat footwork on half-way as he won the ball and then evaded a couple of challenges before switching play to the right flank.
Half Time: 0-0
Within the first few minutes of the second half Gillingham had defended several attempts on their goal as Langworthy dragged his shot wide of the left post, Griffin had a low shot saved, Bevan had an effort caught and Knight had the ball punched from above his head.
It seemed it was only a matter of time before Cirencester would open their account and sure enough in the 53rd minute the ball was moved inside by Aidan Bennett from the right flank to Brown who slipped it out to his left to ROSS LANGWORTHY and he cut back to send a curling right footed shot inside the right post from the left front corner of the penalty area. 0-1.
During the next twenty minutes Gillingham searched for an equaliser but the nearest they came was when a quickly taken free kick on their left flank enabled Agbo to cut inside and fire a low shot past the right post whilst Langworthy and Bennett had efforts that were wide of the target for Cirencester.
As the game entered the last fifteen minutes Bennett intercepted a pass on half way and galloped down the right flank before crossing to the penalty spot where Beale pushed the ball out as Griffin closed in.
Jon Vance collected a Cirencester clearance header near the front edge of the penalty area and struck a fierce left footed shot over the bar. The home side then won a couple of corner kicks and from the second Nick Hewlett produced a firm downward header from near the penalty spot that Harvey Rivers reacted to save near his goal line.
Five minutes later Lee Smith released Bennett on the right and his cross from the corner cleared the home defence for Knight to collect and exchange passes with Bevan before moving it inside to Smith – right footed shot blocked.
With three minutes of normal time remaining Mortimer-Jones, on half way, sent a pass to Smith who carried it down the left side edge of the home penalty area before crossing towards the back post but it was cut out before it reached a rapidly closing Langworthy.
The final action of the game, in added time, resulted in a goal for Cirencester as Mortimer-Jones slipped the ball to Smith on an arcing run to the right front corner of the penalty area. Smith played the ball towards the penalty spot where Kallum Youngsam was bursting forward and his shot was blocked and a follow-up shot rebounded out to the front edge of the area. AIDAN BENNETT latched onto the loose ball and drove a powerful, low, right footed shot inside the left post. 0-2.
Final Score: 0-2.
This was an entertaining cup-tie in difficult conditions due to the heavy rain - full of endeavour but little end product.
It is hoped the result will help to boost the confidence of the Cirencester squad as they head into a couple of important home matches against Kings Langley and Cinderford Town.
Attendance: 110
Referee: Ben Knight
Gillingham Town:
1. Jamie Beale
2. Harry Montacute
3. Lee Sweet
4. Nick Hewlett
5. Aaron White
6. Jon Vance (C)
7. Harry Baker
8. Ashley Clarke
9. Haydon Hodges
10. Aiden Chainey
11. Will Agbo
12. Will Pike (Aiden Chainey-19mins)
14. Elliot Bevis (Haydon Hodges-80mins)
15. Nicholas Thomson
16. Joe Smeeton
Cirencester Town:
1. Harvey Rivers
2. Kyle Lapham
3. Scott Bevan
4. James Coates
5. Matt Liddiard (C)
6. Ben Brown
7. Adam Connolly
8. James Mortimer-Jones
9. Charlie Griffin
10. Ross Langworthy 53
11. Ollie Knight
12. Chris Taylor
14. Aidan Bennett (James Coates-46mins) 90+2
15. Lee Smith (Charlie Griffin-77mins)
16. Kalum Youngsam (Ross Langworthy-88mins)