Cirencester Town FC
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Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
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Click photo to view a slideshow of photos from the match
Match photos supplied by Graham Hill
For the second successive weekend Cirencester were at The Corinium Stadium, this time for a league match against The Ducks of Aylesbury United, and once again they produced a solid, all-round team performance to take the points - but it took until very late in the first half to open their account.
Examination of the statistics for both teams before the fixture revealed that the visitors had secured 3 points from their previous 5 fixtures and that they have 10 points in total from the 13 games played to sit in 19th place in the table.
The fortunes of Cirencester have changed in recent weeks as they have secured 13 points from their last 5 games and in the process moved up the table from 19th to 12th place.
There was one change to the starting eleven of recent weeks as Adulai Sambu has been recalled by his parent club, Cheltenham Town, and as a result Nick Hancock steps up to take his place.
The visitors kicked off, on a very mild day, playing towards The Arena end of the ground and almost immediately lost possession in midfield enabling Cirencester to counter and press during the opening minutes down both flanks, although it was the left flank that was particularly prominent in the early stages with several crosses being delivered but not causing too much threat to the visitor’s defence or goal.
With 13 minutes gone Aylesbury’s speedy right winger, Nasha Mukwada, embarked on a run to the right-side edge of the home box before squaring the ball to Harry Jones, near the Penalty Spot, but his strike was blocked at the right post by ‘keeper Alex Harris and cleared downfield.
From that point onwards Cirencester dominated possession with their high energy work-rate but failed to make it pay with too many inaccurate passes and crosses.
Shortly after the mid-point of the half the busy Joe Shepherd fired over the bar and headed wide of the right post and at the 30-minute mark Jordan Morris tested the visitors ‘keeper, Jack Hopwood, with a cross towards the far-right post that the keeper pushed wide to concede another corner kick that they again survived.
Into the ten minutes before the interval and the energetic Reegan Messenger won the ball in the left channel and sprayed the ball to Nick Hancock, right side edge of the Aylesbury box, who sent a low cross through the Penalty Area to be cleared near the left post.
Cirencester were increasing the pressure on the visitors as another cross passed through their Penalty Area without contact – soon to be followed by Messenger’s pull-back from the right by-line being deflected into the path of an incoming Joe Turley – a fierce shot followed but Hopwood blocked and the ball was immediately cleared downfield for Jones to collect and work his way to the left channel of the home Penalty Area where he twisted and turned before shooting over the bar.
This near-miss prompted Cirencester to press again in the final minutes of the half - a Hancock cross was blocked, falling to Messenger who instantly volleyed the dropping ball over the bar.
Levi Irving then collected the ball in the right corner and squared to an unmarked Morris, as he entered the left channel of the visitors Penalty Area, and he shot towards the right post but somehow Hopwood stretched out a foot to divert it wide of his goal. The resulting corner kick from the left flank was delivered by Turley to the back post where JAKE LEE headed goal-wards for Hopwood to block but Lee headed the rebound inside the right post to break the deadlock with virtually the last contact of the half. 1-0.
Half Time: 1-0
Almost immediately from the restart Cirencester doubled their lead as they worked the ball down their right flank for Shepherd to send to the centre front edge of the Aylesbury box where LEVI IRVING collected, moved left and tucked a very precise, low, left footed shot inside the right post. 2-0.
Within a minute Cirencester were back again after Lee defended an Aylesbury attack and cleared the ball down the right flank for Irving to collect and exchange passes with Hancock before cutting along the front edge of the visitor’s box to shoot over the top right corner when he reached a central position.
A few minutes later Lee robbed Sonny French of possession, 15 yards inside the Aylesbury half, and moved it on to Irving further down the centre of the pitch, an exchange of passes took place and as Irving advanced into the box he was tripped and a Penalty Kick awarded. As usual Lee stepped forward to take the kick and drove it towards the bottom left post but Hopwood had anticipated correctly and dived to make the save.
The visitors responded by launching the ball into the left channel of the home box for French to come out of a tackle with the ball and as Harris advanced French lobbed the ball over him but Lee was covering to clear at the left post.
As the hour mark approached Cirencester advanced towards the Aylesbury box and when Messenger was challenged the ball broke to LEVI IRVING, left of the Penalty Spot, and he promptly tucked it inside the right post again. 3-0.
For the next five minutes or so Cirencester had plenty of possession but failed to make it count and as the mid-point approached Herbie Townsend delivered a cross-field pass to Jose Prata Fernandes who slid it down the left channel for Alfie Anderson to collect and drive into the home Penalty Area but his cross towards the far-right post was collected by Harris and the threat was over.
Back came Cirencester as Lee launched the ball to the right corner for Irving to chase and ‘win’ a corner kick that Turley drove to the far post for Josh Nelmes to powerfully head towards the target – but it was blocked on the line and cleared.
A couple of minutes later Centurion Nelmes battled with Mukwada as the Aylesbury player chased the ball to their left corner and the Centurion emerged with the ball to clear the danger.
Despite the deficit the visitors were still trying to play and around the 75th minute French played the ball left to Jake Bewley, left flank half-way, and he sent it down their left channel to Anderson, inside to Mukwada, centre front edge of the home box, and he fired towards the top right corner where Harris managed to push it wide of his post for a corner kick that was cleared by Morris.
Almost immediately Mukwada produced a clever turn to evade three challengers but the resulting pass went astray.
As in the first half Cirencester pressed right up to the whistle as Will Christopher played the ball to the right channel front edge of the Aylesbury box where Turley struck a firm shot at the target – parried by Hopwood for Irving to head towards the top right corner – pushed over by Hopwood. The corner kick from the right was delivered by Turley to the far post where another powerful header from Nelmes was blocked on the line and cleared.
Full Time: 3-0
Another solid team performance from The Centurions with everyone playing their part.
Attendance: 142 Referee: Hadyn Lavender
Cirencester Town:
1. Alex Harris
2. Will Christopher
3. Ellis Dunton
4. Joe Turley
5. Jake Lee © 45+1
6. Josh Nelmes
7. Nick Hancock
8. Reegan Messenger
9. Levi Irving 47, 58
10. Joe Shepherd
11. Jordan Morris
12. Kenneth Mills (Joe Shepherd-80mins)
14. Josh Parsons
15. James Mortimer-Jones (Reegan Messenger-85mins)
16. Louie Barnfather (GK)
17. Kevin Sawyer (GK)
Aylesbury United:
1. Jack Hopwood
2. George Joyce
3. Jose Prata Fernandes
4. Jack Wood ©
5. Jake Bewley
6. Jack Moriarty
7. Zvikomborero Mukwada
8. Herbie Townsend
9. Harry Jones
10. Sonny French
11. Alfie Anderson
12. David Lynn (Jose Prata Fernandes-67mins)
14. Pierce McNamara (Herbie Townsend-80mins)
15. Reece Bayliss (George Joyce-46mins)
16. Junayd Shawwal