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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Cirencester hosted Sholing FC and despite dominating large periods it took two excellent strikes to secure victory against their determined and hard-working visitors.
Prior to the game the Southampton based visitors sat in 16th place in the Division with 21 points from their 17 games whilst Cirencester have 30 points from 22 games and their current form, based on the ‘6-Match Form Guide’ table, places them 8th to Cirencester’s 11th so another difficult game was in prospect.
The Cirencester starting eleven was unchanged from that which narrowly lost by the odd goal in three against 2nd placed Frome Town in the previous match and from the start they took the game to their opponents as Brad Gray delivered a teasing cross from the right front corner of the Sholing area that Toumani Sidibe nearly reached at the back post in the first minute.
During the opening 15 minutes Cirencester really worked their flanks to the corners with Will Tunnicliff and Jordan Morris making supporting runs to the corners as they combined with Sidibe and Gray respectively and when the ball was played down the centre to Levi Irving he slipped it to Sidibe who clipped the outside of the left post.
Shortly afterwards Sholing countered down their right flank and fed Byron Mason as he burst into the area to shoot. The shot was saved by ‘keeper Lewis Clayton but broke free and after Clayton blocked the follow-up Josh Nelmes cleared the danger.
As the mid-point of the half approached Morris played the ball down the right channel to Tommy Anderson who slipped it to Gray in the corner and he crossed to the far post where it was cleared and recycled for Morris to cross from the right by-line to Sidibe, on the edge of the 6 yard box, but his effort was blocked - falling to Anderson who volleyed wide.
Sholing responded and attacked the right flank as Stuart Green’s pass down the channel was intercepted by Nelmes on the edge of the box and then a cross from the right reached Jake Hoole who carried it to the left by-line but his cross was caught by Clayton.
The ball was immediately supplied to BRADLEY GRAY, some 30 yards out - right channel, and he looked up to pick his spot before sending his superb strike into the top left corner of the Sholing goal. 1-0.
A few minutes later as Sidibe cut in from the left his feet were scythed from under him but much to the surprise of the home support the Referee waved ‘play-on’ and refused shouts for a penalty kick.
As Cirencester continued to press the visitors mounted a counter attack as Dan Miller sent a cross-field pass from left to right for the ball to then be sent down the right channel for Daniel Mason to chase to the by-line before pulling it back towards the edge of the 6 yard box where Green volleyed over under pressure.
Sholing equalised three minutes later when they countered quickly down their left flank as a ball from defence was ‘chested’ by Daniel Mason into the path of BRADLEY TARGETT as he burst down the left touchline to reach the penalty area. His cross from 12 yard was blocked but rebounded to him as he neared the left post where he tucked it past the closing Clayton. 1-1.
The final few minutes of the half were a bit frantic as Nick Hancock had a shot from 15 yards parried by ‘keeper Ryan Gosney leading to a counter that ended as Targett fired wide of the left post at the other end.
Half Time: 1-1
Cirencester made the perfect start after the break as Nelmes sent the ball down the right touchline for Sidibe to take to the corner resulting in a corner kick that Nelmes flicked goal-wards at the near post for Gosney to catch but they were soon back again when Irving produced a sharp turn and drove to the left by-line leading to a corner kick.
The kick was played to JONNY DENNIS, near the front left corner of the Sholing box, and as he moved right he clipped a curling effort into the top left corner. 2-1.
The visitors responded immediately with both Targett and Green reaching the right by-line to cross but both were defended.
Cirencester continued to press with some slick play as they worked the ball down both flanks with several players involved and by the hour mark Dennis had fired wide of the right post and both Hancock and Sidibe had headed over.
Shortly after the mid-point Sholing mounted a couple of attacks - one of which reached the left corner leading to a throw-in that was ‘back-headed’ towards the area in front of the penalty spot where Targett fired over the bar.
Encouraged the visitors began to press more often and put the home defence under pressure with Mike Pook displaying some calmness at the back post to clear and Morris and Hancock also called into defensive action.
As the game entered the final 10 scheduled minutes it was Cirencester that were having to counter attack with Irving reaching the left by-line to cross and as a defender fell debutant Ross Gabriel attempted an ambitious overhead kick from near the penalty spot that passed narrowly wide of the left post.
During the later stages Irving was proving an important outlet as he carried the ball down the left flank to the corner and following a throw-in Gabriel slipped the ball to Anderson as he burst into the Sholing area, left of centre, but as he shaped to shoot Gosney dived at his feet to smother the effort.
The last shot at goal came from Sholing as James Lauder attempted a speculative shot from 30 yards that was wide of the left post.
Full Time: 2-1
A solid performance from Cirencester against a hard-working opponent.
Attendance: 169
Referee: Daniel Pattison
CIRENCESTER TOWN:
1. Lewis Clayton
2. Jordan Morris
3. Will Tunnicliff
4. Michael Pook ©
5. Josh Nelmes
6. Will Wellon
7. Tommy Anderson
8. Nick Hancock
9. Levi Irving
10. Bradley Gray 25
11. Toumani Sidibe
12. John Dennis (Bradley Gray-41mins) 49
14. Jack Freeman
15. Lewis Thompson
16. Ross Gabriel (Toumani Sidibe-74mins)
17. Josh Parsons
SHOLING FC:
1. Ryan Gosney
2. Terry Cuthbertson
3. Jake Hoole
4. Owen Roundell
5. Dan Miller
6. Owen Royl
7. Lee Wort
8. Byron Mason ©
9. Daniel Mason
10. Stuart Green
11. Jamie Bulpitt
12. Marvin McLean
14. Bradley Targett (Lee Wort-31mins) 38
16. Jack Nicholas
17 James Lauder (Jamie Bulpitt-63mins)
18. Joe Smith