Cirencester Town FC
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Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
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Cirencester Town 3 - 0 Lymington Town
For the second fixture of the new season Cirencester welcomed newcomers Lymington Town, who were promoted from the Wessex League to the Southern League for the 2021-22 season, to The Corinium Stadium.
The visitors had recorded a 3-1 victory on Saturday at Barnstaple and they would undoubtedly be full of confidence as a result.
Cirencester were without Tom Handley and Jordan Morris on Saturday due to both suffering from a bout of Tonsillitis and consequently they were not considered for tonight’s fixture but the performance of the team against Bristol Manor Farm was superb with everyone playing their part in a hard-fought opening fixture.
‘The Linnets’ kicked off playing to wards ‘The Shed’ end of the ground with left back Arshia Sheibatzadeh charging to the corner but his cross was overhit and despite recycling the ball the visitors soon lost it for Cirencester to mount an attack down their right flank through Tommy Anderson that was also repelled.
Eight minutes into the match a long punt from ‘keeper Marcus Beauchamp reached Dominic Thelen who attempted a ‘chip’ over the advancing home custodian Alex Harris from 25-yards, right channel, but it was wide of the target.
The early signs were that Lymington had come to play as they looked comfortable on the ball and ‘buzzed’ about the pitch with good movement and this seemed fitting as they were wearing yellow & black hooped shirts that brought ‘busy bees’ to mind.
During this early phase Cirencester were finding it difficult to get the ball and keep it but gradually they settled and Shayne Anson was involved in a number of foraging runs in support of Anderson – causing the visitors some discomfort.
Around the mid-point of the half Ellis Dunton embarked on a 25-yard run (similar to those performed by his fellow central defender Jake Lee against Didcot Town) evading a couple of would-be challenges en-route before slipping the ball to Anderson, forward to Joe Shepherd who drove it through the front edge of the Lymington 6-yard box without contact.
Cirencester began to press more frequently and a period of possession resulted in a corner kick from the left that eventually reached Shepherd, laid off to Dunton who fired wide of the right post.
The visitors responded by mounting an attack down their right flank before switching to the left resulting in a corner kick – leading to a cross that was too long enabling Cirencester to counter.
During the final 15 minutes of the half Cirencester increased the pressure as Nick Peare’s header was blocked, the busy Josh Parsons fired wide a couple of times and a superb pass from Peare found Anderson leading to a corner kick that Jake Lee crashed against the bar so it was no surprise that the home side opened the scoring from another corner kick delivered by Anderson to the far post where ELLIS DUNTON rose to powerfully head into the net two minutes from the break.
Half Time: 1-0
It appeared the half-time ‘pep-talk’ revolved around closing down quicker and from the re-start there was more urgency in Cirencester’s play as Shepherd reached the left by-line to cross – blocked, Aidan Bennett had a couple of efforts wide of the target and produced a precise finish to be declared ‘offside’.
But during this pressure Lymington countered for Ben Satterley to send a corner kick to Harry McGrath who headed over at the near post.
Two more goals within three minutes before the hour mark took the game beyond Lymington as first Bennett received a pass from the right flank, moved to his right before back-heeling the ball into the path of a supporting NICK PEARE who produced a sublime, powerful side-foot finish into the top left corner from the central front edge of the Lymington penalty area with his left-foot. 2-0.
Minutes later a hurried clearance from Beauchamp was collected by Anderson who quickly sent it to the left channel of the visitors box where an under-hit back-pass was intercepted by the eager JOSH PARSONS who dummied the ‘keeper before going round him to tuck the ball into the empty net. 3-0.
To their credit Lymington kept on trying and the Cirencester defence was tested right until the end – often as a result of free kicks conceded 35 yards from goal. From these Luke Churchill fired wide and had an effort caught by Harris, and Thelen fired a shot-on-the turn wide of the right post.
As the game entered the last 15 minutes Parsons released Levi Irving into space for a charge into the visitor’s box, down the left channel, but instead of squaring the ball to supporting team-mates the young striker opted to shoot and Beauchamp blocked to concede a corner kick at his right post.
During the final few minutes Lymington tested the home defence with Anson, Elliott Keightley and Jake Lee all making essential clearances whilst Rian Drake shot over the bar.
The last action of the match was a superb 30-yard strike from Satterley that looked destined for the top left corner until a tremendous finger-tip save from Harris pushed it over.
Full Time: 3-0
An entertaining match against a side full of confidence, following their victory at Barnstaple at the week-end, who played some neat football but after their hard-won victory over Bristol Manor Farm the home side were also confident and with some well-constructed attacks proved to have too much on the night.
Attendance: 131 Referee: Jack Clench
Cirencester Town:
1. Alex Harris
2. Shayne Anson
3. Elliott Keightley
4. Joe Turley
5. Jake Lee ©
6. Ellis Dunton 43
7. Tommy Anderson
8. Nick Peare 56
9. Aidan Bennett
10. Josh Parsons 59
11. Joe Shepherd
12. Josh Nelmes
14. Nick Hancock (Joe Shepherd-70mins)
15. Levi Irving (Aidan Bennett-72mins)
16. Michael Pook
17. Ross Gabriel (Joe Turley-76mins)
Lymington Town:
1. Marcus Beauchamp
5. Craig Stanley
20. Ryan Fuller
3. Arshia Sheibatzadeh
4. Nathan Hurst
18. Toby Bailey
14. Sam House
8. Ben Satterley
9. Harry McGrath
10. Freddie Bullard
11. Dominic Thelen
12. Rian Drake (Dominic Thelen-76mins)
7. Jason Brookes (Freddie Bullard-76mins)
17. Thomas Man
16. Luke Churchill (Arshia Sheibatzadeh-59mins)
15. Craig McAllister