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 travelled to the outskirts of Oxford for their latest Pre-Season Friendly match to face Kidlington of the Southern League – Central Division and came away with a solid victory.
The visitors kicked off playing towards the Clubhouse end of the ground and immediately took the game to their hosts as Tom Handley delivered the ball behind the home defence to the left corner for Jonny Dennis to chase but the winger was surprisingly flagged ‘offside’ when he crossed the ball.
The positive start continued a couple of minutes later when Levi Irving chased all the way across the front edge of the home box to pressure a defender who kicked the ball into touch for a Cirencester throw-in that resulted in a cross-field pass from Lee Llewelyn that reached a charging Archie Brennan who fired over from the right channel of the penalty area.
The home side responded by working the ball down their left flank with several players involved – Ben Willoughby to Mark Flanagan, forward to Kaylem Patterson who exchanged passes with former Centurion Jacob Davidge in the left corner – leading to a corner kick that eventually landed at the feet of Jim Glover who brought a low save to his right from Cirencester custodian Alex Harris.
Ten minutes in and Mike Pook, on half-way, headed the ball left to Dennis, back to Handley who sent a cross-field pass towards the far post where Ben Hands arrived to cross from the by-line but ‘keeper Christian Lawrence intervened at his left post.
Kidlington’s Glover embarked on a 20 yard run down the right channel before releasing the ball to the right corner where Patterson appeared to cross towards the far post – headed away to start a counter attack that was intercepted by Dan West who delivered a 50 yard pass – from inside his own half, left channel, to Glover near the right touchline, 25 yards out, followed by a throw-in and once again the visitors defence stood firm.
Shortly before the mid-point of the half Cirencester mounted an attack down their right flank that led to a free kick, 30 yards out near the touchline. Tommy Anderson launched the kick towards the area to the left of the penalty spot where SHAYNE ANSON performed some aerial acrobatics to get his head to the ball and send it into the top left corner. 0-1.
Five minutes later Kidlington thought they had equalised when Flanagan moved the ball down the left flank to Billy Gillett who crossed for Davidge to finish from close range but the Assistant Referee’s flag was raised for ‘offside’ somewhere in the move.
Around the half-hour mark home ‘keeper Lawrence was called upon to dart from his box to deal with a couple of passes over his defence as Ciren players closed in and shortly afterwards Pook fired over from 30 yards and then saw a left footed effort from inside the area blocked for a corner kick.
Five minutes from the interval Dennis sent a low cross from the left front corner of the home area towards the penalty spot and whilst it was too far in front of Irving it did reach Anderson as he burst forward but his shot clipped the top of the cross-bar.
As the half drew to a close Dennis and Hands exchanged passes as they worked the left flank for Handley to over-lap to the corner but his resulting cross was too long to cause any problems to the home defence.
Half Time: 0-1
During the interval Kidlington made a couple of changes with Steve Robertson and Del Peart replacing Jacob Davidge and Brad Cox and within a few minutes Robertson combined with Flanagan and Gillett to work the ball down their left flank leading to a free kick that was comfortably defended.
The home sides left flank featured regularly during the second half as Flanagan and Gillett combined with Patterson or Robertson to be met by Brennan and a very determined Anson who was certainly up for the challenge.
A couple of minutes after the hour Handley received a free kick just inside the visitors half, left flank, and moved it down the line to JONNY DENNIS who ran forward before cutting back onto his right foot to send a low cross from the left front corner of the home area towards the 6-yard box. A moment of miss-understanding followed, between defender and ‘keeper, allowing the ball to pass them both and nestle inside the far post. 0-2.
As the game entered the final 20 minutes Kidlington mounted a number of attacks as Gillett and Robertson headed wide of the target but generally found the Cirencester defence in determined mood.
With a minute of ‘normal’ time remaining Ross Gabriel headed a corner kick clear and the ball was fed to Roger James, 5 yards inside his own half, centre circle, and he galloped down the centre chased by Glover. When the Ciren man reached the edge of the penalty area he moved right to shoot but a well-timed tackle from the determined Glover blocked the effort and won the ball to prevent any further progress.
Full Time: 0-2
Not the most fluent of games as the sides cancelled one another out so that there were few flowing moves for the neutral purist to appreciate but certainly a good work-out on their journey to fitness and team understanding.
KIDLINGTON:
Christian Lawrence, Ryan Markham, Mark Flanagan, Brad Cox, Dan West, Tom Moore, Jim Glover, Ben Willoughby, Kaylem Patterson, Jacob Davidge, Billy Gillett, Del Peart, Aaron Morton, Tom Franklin, Steve Robertson.
CIRENCESTER TOWN:
Alex Harris, Archie Brennan, Tom Handley, Mike Pook, Shayne Anson, Ellis Dunton, Tommy Anderson, Lee Llewelyn, Levi Irving, Ben Hands, Jonny Dennis, Joe Turley, Aidan Bennett, Ross Gabriel, Roger James.