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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The August Bank Holiday Monday fixture took Cirencester to face long-standing rivals Evesham United and after an initial surge by their hosts they began to settle and opened the scoring mid-way into the half. A second goal just before the interval gave them the proverbial ’cushion’ and a third by the hour mark enabled them to return with the three points.
There were two changes to the Cirencester starting eleven as Nick Peare was injured on Saturday and Aidan Bennett was unavailable (holiday). As a result Mike Pook and Levi Irving stepped up from the bench.
The visitors kicked off and immediately worked the ball to the left corner for Levi Irving to cross into the box where it was recycled to the right corner as Shayne Anson overlapped.
It was then the turn of their hosts as Karnell Chambers and Callum Ebanks combined to work the ball down their left flank and across to the right corner where Thomas Chamberlain made ground to the by-line before laying the ball off to Lance Smith, back to Ebanks who had his shot blocked and poked to Tommy Anderson for a counter attack but as he collected the ball he was unceremoniously dumped to the ground - earning the culprit a Yellow Card.
Back came Evesham as Smith flicked the ball on for Chamberlain to collect but his cross was cleared enabling Anderson and Anson to push forward resulting in a corner kick that reached Joe Shepherd at the back post and his header was parried by ‘keeper Lewis Clayton, eventually falling to Josh Parsons who fired wide of the left post.
During the early phase of the game the tall Evesham strikers, Ebanks and Smith, were causing some aerial issues for Cirencester but it didn’t take long for them to get to grips with their opponents and as a result the ball coming out of defence improved and enabled Cirencester to counter more effectively.
Sixteen minutes into the game and Cirencester were beginning to move the ball around with confidence as Joe Turley released Anderson to cross to the back post for another Shepherd header that somehow Clayton blocked and the follow-up effort from Parsons was deflected over the bar.
At the mid-point of the half Parsons collected and then carried the ball to the central front edge of the home area before slipping it right to TOMMY ANDERSON as he burst forward into the box. Taking on his fullback he dummied, then moved forward again, and instead of crossing (as he had done several times before) he drove it into the net from a narrow angle, right channel – 8 yards out. 0-1.
Evesham’s response was to work the ball down their left flank through Chambers, Calvin Dinsley and Adam Mace who sent a cross-field pass to Chamberlain in the right corner where progress ended.
With 15 minutes to the interval Cirencester were really working the home defence, with Parsons and Anderson particularly prominent, leading to a corner kick that Mike Pook delivered towards the near post where SHAYNE ANSON darted forward to produce a sublime, sideways-on, right footed volley that gave Clayton no chance. 0-2.
In reply Ebanks fired over the bar from 25 yards but Cirencester were finishing the half strongly as a Jake Lee header was pushed over his crossbar by Clayton.
Half Time: 0-2
Evesham started the second half positively and despite attacking down both flanks in the opening five minutes they never really tested the Cirencester defence who countered through Levi Irving who sent a cross-cum-shot onto the roof of the net from the left channel of the home box.
Shortly afterwards a Parsons interception, 40 yards from goal, resulted in a corner kick that reached Shepherd at the back post and his header into the mix caused a bit of a scramble and an Ellis Dunton shot to be blocked.
A few minutes later Cirencester worked their left flank again as Dunton fed Jordan Morris who exchanged passes with Irving to reach the left corner where his low cross surprisingly reached JOSH PARSONS who tucked it over the line from a couple of yards. 0-3.
Once again Evesham responded to the setback to press and win a corner kick that was cleared to return a few minutes later as Chamberlain exchanged passes with an overlapping Jordan Lymn before seeing his shot deflected for a corner kick that was cleared to Charles Johnson, 25 yards out – central position, who lobbed it back in for custodian Alex Harris to push around his left post.
At this stage Evesham were pressing hard – a sprint between Chamberlain and Morris to the corner, a pass from Jordan Staten to Smith who was quickly surrounded, a shot from Lorcan Sheehan that was partially blocked for Harris to collect.
The Cirencester reply was a shot past the far-right post from Irving followed by a break from Anderson to the right by-line and a pull-back to Morris – shot blocked on the goal-line, cleared to Turley who fired over.
The busy Chamberlain charged forward to the right corner to cross to the near post where Jamie Lucas headed wide.
As the game was drawing to a close Evesham pressed again but the Cirencester defence stood firm.
Full Time: 0-3
A solid, professional performance from The Centurions with everyone playing their part.
Attendance: 224 Referee: James Cox
Evesham United:
1. Lewis Clayton
2. Jordan Lymn
3. Adam Mace
4. Charles Johnson
5. Jordan Staten
6. Lorcan Sheehan
7. Thomas Chamberlain
8. Calvin Dinsley
9. Lance Smith ©
10. Callum Ebanks
11. Karnell Chambers
12. Ben Hayes
14. Jack Horrell
15. Jamie Lucas (Lance Smith-74mins)
16. Toby Holland (Lorcan Sheehan-74mins)
17. Joshua Rogers (GK)
Cirencester Town:
1. Alex Harris
2. Shayne Anson 41
3. Jordan Morris
4. Michael Pook
5. Jake Lee ©
6. Ellis Dunton
7. Tommy Anderson 23
8. Joe Turley
9. Levi Irving
10. Josh Parsons 58
11. Joe Shepherd
12. Josh Nelmes (Joe Shepherd-83mins)
14. Tom Handley (Levi Irving-72mins)
15. Ross Gabriel (Michael Pook-80mins)
16. Kevin Sawyer (GK)