Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
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Match Report by Dave Pyzer
Cirencester returned to league action, following their FA Cup exit last week, and travelled to Buckinghamshire to face 11th placed Chesham United.
‘The Generals’ have made a solid start to the season with 3 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses in their 9 games to date and within their ranks they have former Football League players Darren Purse and Barry Hayles.
Cirencester Caretaker Manager, Jody Bevan, had to ‘shuffle his pack’ with limited options available to him as Scott Bevan (Tonsillitis) and James Mortimer-Jones (work) were unavailable, whilst Adam Connolly was injured (although he took a seat on the bench). Aidan Bennett returned after missing last week and started at left back in place of the absent Scott Bevan and Andy Ellcock made his first start for the Club in midfield.
Cirencester kicked-off in perfect conditions, dry with a slight breeze, and were immediately put under pressure by their hosts as Chesham won a corner kick from the right that reached Stephan Hamilton-Forbes at the back post but he failed to control it on his thigh and it went out for a goal-kick. A couple of minutes later a long ball over the advanced Cirencester back line was collected by Drew Roberts and his resulting right footed shot, from the left channel, as he was closed down by a recovering defence was well wide of the left post.
Cirencester responded with a couple of breaks down their flanks – the first on the right through Lee Smith and Ross Langworthy and the second started on the right with Ollie Knight before being switched to the left by Charlie Griffin - but neither troubled the home defence.
The home side opened the scoring in fortunate circumstances after 12 minutes when Dave Pearce made a break down their left flank and crossed the ball towards the penalty spot. En-route a team-mate stepped over the ball in an attempt to ‘dummy’ his marker who cleared it but to Stephan Hamilton-Forbes and he immediately sent a right footed shot towards the right post from a central position outside the box. As Harvey Rivers in the Cirencester goal moved to his left to cover Aidan Bennett stuck out his right foot to block and deflected the ball inside the ‘keepers right post. 1-0.
Undeterred Cirencester responded with a superb pass from Andy Ellcock, from the centre of the pitch to Langworthy on the left flank, on to Knight and a deep cross to the back post where Benji Crilley conceded a corner kick as Smith closed. Knight took the corner kick and two subsequent ones as the home defence stood firm until they eventually launched the ball down field to relieve the pressure.
Back came Cirencester as they worked the ball down the left flank with several players involved but as they entered the home penalty area it was lost.
A similar effort down the right flank a few minutes later also came to nought.
As the mid-point of the half approached Chesham launched the ball down the pitch where Barry Hayles collected and won a corner kick from the right. The kick was eventually cleared but fell to Pearce 25 yards out, central position, and his right footed shot was easily caught by Rivers.
Just after the half hour Smith combined with Matt Liddiard on the right flank and the ball was laid back to Kyle Lapham who crossed towards Griffin at the far post but the ball was cut-out before it reached him.
A minute later Lapham was involved again but at the Cirencester end of the pitch. The defender, to the right of his penalty area, attempted to head a long ball from Chesham back to Rivers but got underneath it sending it high into the air enabling Roberts to dart forward to collect and cross through the penalty area to BARRY HAYLES, to the right of the penalty spot, and without hesitation he smashed it into the roof of the net. 2-0.
This further setback seemed to knock the stuffing out of Cirencester and whilst Langworthy headed a free kick from the left wide of the right post Chesham controlled the rest of the half.
Half Time: 2-0
After the interval Chesham again started quickly - winning a couple of early corner kicks.
Six minutes into the half Cirencester kept possession as they worked the ball across the back-line, down the centre and to the left flank where a free kick was awarded. As the kick entered the home penalty area a foul was awarded to Chesham and the threat was over.
A few minutes later Griffin ‘headed-on’ a throw-in for Langworthy to collect further down the left flank. Langworthy cut in and crossed to Smith on the far side of the pitch who exchanged passes with Liddiard before losing the ball.
Just before the hour mark the home side increased their lead following a corner kick as a Drew Roberts shot, from the centre front edge of the Cirencester penalty area, was deflected into the air in front of the goal and the alert BARRY HALES darted in to head inside the right post. 3-0.
Cirencester had some periods of possession during the next ten minutes but they rarely threatened the home goal and just after the mi-point of the half the home side nearly added to their tally as Roberts struck a fierce right footed shot against the right post.
The nearest Cirencester came to scoring was in the 73rd minute when a well placed Charlie Griffin free kick, 25 yards out – right channel, was saved low down inside his left post by Ashlee Jones as he pushed it wide. The ball was collected and crossed to Liddiard near the left channel front edge of the Chesham penalty area and he chested it back to Griffin who fired a shot narrowly wide of the left post.
Shortly afterwards Cirencester worked the ball from right to left and to the centre front edge of the Chesham penalty area where Griffin played it to his left for Kalum Youngsam to chase to the by-line but he was unable to get enough power into his shot and Jones caught it at his near post.
In the final moments of normal time Hamilton-Forbes made a lunging tackle on Knight in the centre circle and the well placed Referee brandished a straight Red Card to bring his game to a premature end.
Final Score: 3-0.
A disappointing performance and result for the Centurions who were up against a well organised, well balanced Chesham side.
Attendance: 292
Referee: Mr J Turner
Chesham United:
1. Ashlee Jones
2. Brett Longden
3. Mat Mitchell-King
4. Benji Crilley
5. Darren Purse (C)
6. Stephan Hamilton-Forbes
7. Dave Pearce
8. Sam Youngs
9. Barry Hales 12, 59
10. Drew Roberts
11. Adam Martin
12. Ryan Blake (Barry Hales-63mins)
14. Matt Taylor (Adam Martin-71mins)
15. Brad Wadkins
16. Bruce Wilson (Brett Longden-81mins)
17. Ronnel Dennis
Cirencester Town:
1. Harvey Rivers
2. Kyle Lapham
3. Aidan Bennett
4. James Coates
5. Matt Liddiard (C)
6. Ben Brown
7. Lee Smith
8. Andy Elcock
9. Charlie Griffin
10. Ross Langworthy
11. Ollie Knight
12. Adam Connolly
14. Kalum Youngsam (Lee Smith-69mins)
15. Sam Farr (Kyle Lapham-83mins)
16. Jody Bevan
17. James Mortimer-Jones