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
The Centurions returned to The Corinium Stadium, for the first in a series of three successive home matches, to host AYLESBURY UNITED in a re-arranged League match and despite dominating possession for much of the first half it was goal-less at the interval, but shortly after the hour they opened their account and added a second in ‘added-time’ with the visitors scoring a consolation goal in the final minute.
In terms of current form – prior to this match Aylesbury sat in 17th place in the Division table with 3 points from 5 games played whilst Cirencester were in 5th place with 10 points from 7 games played.
There were two changes to the starting eleven that began the game against Leighton Town in mid-week as Joe Turley and Luca Robinson replaced Nick Peare and Charlie McCrae respectively.
The visitors kicked-off on a dry day, perfect for football, playing towards The Shed end of the ground and almost immediately forfeited possession enabling Cirencester to feed it down their left flank for Roger James to cut inside and shoot towards the left post where custodian James Callan made the required save.
During the next few minutes Cirencester pressed forward to work the ball across the front of the visitor’s box but without really testing them until a long punt from home ‘keeper Stuart Nelson was headed on by Harry Burns to Luca Robinson who took it into the right corner before laying it back to Burns to cross to an area in front of the Aylesbury 6-yard box where Reegan Messenger burst forward to send a glancing header wide of the left post.
As Cirencester worked the ball down their left flank James switched play to the right with a cross-field pass to Robinson but his cross from the right corner was blocked and eventually recycled via Jake Lee to the visitors Penalty Spot where Aidan Bennett popped up to head goalwards – blocked and cleared to James who sent it back into the box for Callan to parry.
The first serious reply from Aylesbury came after 15 minutes as Jake Bewley headed the ball away for Joshua Iheanacho to collect and supply to Max Cavana, who played it down the left touchline for Iheanacho to chase but Lee had spotted the intention and came across to clear.
Five minutes later Callan sent a goal kick down the centre of the pitch for Kwai Marsh-Brown to chase and this brought an alert Nelson out of his box to clear and a minute later the home ‘keeper was involved in a repeat of his earlier assist as he launched the ball down the right channel for Burns to head on to Bennett, back to Burns who shot, towards the top right corner, parried for a corner kick that was over-hit.
At the mid-point of the half Cirencester produced some neat approach play down their right flank that culminated in James shooting over the bar from the edge of the visitors box and leading up to the 30-minute mark Callan parried a Robinson piledriver for a corner kick and Bennett headed over.
In reply Iheanacho cut in from the left flank and fired well over the target but the action was soon at the other end as a Charlie Johnson cross-field pass found Robinson who immediately volleyed it to the front edge of the Aylesbury 6-yard box to be cleared.
The visitors had sat back and massed their defence but they were gradually showing more ambition as Marsh-Brown sent a pass down their left channel with the outside of his right foot, cleared by Ellis Dunton, but recycled back to Marsh-Brown who fired wide of the left post.
Once again Cirencester pressed as Bennett and Burns exchanged passes with the resultant cross yielding yet another corner kick – Lee heading over the target.
A few minutes later a punt downfield was headed out for David Pearce to instantly fire a low left footed volley towards the right post where Nelson dived across to concede a corner kick.
As the half was drawing to a close a James shot towards the left post was cleared to Johnson who worked his way to the by-line before crossing towards the right channel front edge of the Aylesbury box where Burns struck a superb volley against the bottom of the right post that rebounded across the goalmouth to be recycled and eventually caught by Callan.
Half Time: 0-0
Within the first ten minutes of the re-start Messenger had a cross from the right by-line blocked, Robinson fired over the bar, and Bennett had an effort parried by Callan and recycled to the left flank for Robinson to drive into the Aylesbury box before pulling it back for Bennett to clip over the bar from 10 yards.
The visitors replied as they worked the ball down their right flank through Jack Empson to Rocko Tamplin and eventually to Pearce who had his effort blocked from the left channel of the home box.
Cirencester continued to press forward to win another corner kick that was headed clear and recycled for James to shoot over from the right-side edge of the Aylesbury box but he made amends just after the hour when he reached the right corner and delivered a superb cross for the incoming HARRY BURNS to firmly head home from just outside the 6-yard box. 1-0.
A minute later Dunton headed the ball to Burns who moved it on to Messenger, right channel of the visitor’s box, who saw his first shot blocked and his second, from the rebound, go over the target.
Around the mid-point of the second half Burns and Robinson combined to supply Johnson and his deep cross towards the far-right post was nearly collected by an incoming Bennett but passed narrowly wide of the post.
Aylesbury responded as Cavana supplied Marsh-Brown who cut right from the left channel before sending a low shot towards the bottom left post where Nelson made the save.
During the next five minutes Marsh-Brown was heavily involved in the action as he received a Yellow Card for a tackle on Lee and fired wide of the far-right post before being substituted.
With time passing Aylesbury had to come out in search of an equaliser and around the 80-minute mark they mounted a couple of attacks – the first involving Empson, Tamplin and Iheanacho who saw his cross headed out by Johnson and the second an intricate affair that involved several players before Beadle was adjudged to be ‘offside’ bringing the threat to an end.
Into the final scheduled 5 minutes Johnson slipped the ball down the left channel to Charlie McCrae who squared it into the danger zone, cleared to Johnson fed to Messenger who shot over the bar.
A minute later Callan kept his team in the game as he pulled off a sensational save to deny Bennett as he volleyed a cross from Dan Grieve from close range towards the right post where the recovering Callan somehow managed to block. The resulting corner kick was cleared to Will Christopher who fired over from 25 yards.
In ‘added-time’ Cirencester increased their lead when McCrae collected the ball and moved forward before supplying AIDAN BENNETT who cut left from the right channel of the visitor’s box before firing at the target - with his shot taking a deflection from an incoming block but still finding the back of the net. 2-0.
Aylesbury responded positively to this further setback as almost immediately they launched a counter attack down their right flank as Tamplin received the ball and made ground before sending a low cross towards the front edge of the home box where HAYDEN BEADLE darted forward to collect, move right and tuck a low shot inside the far-left post. 2-1.
Not knowing how long the Referee had added to the ‘added-time’ made the final few seconds tense.
Full Time: 2-1
A game of many missed chances by the home side and a very late rally by the visitors.
Attendance: 173 Referee: Dale Wootton
Cirencester Town:
1. Stuart Nelson
2. Will Christopher
3. Charlie Johnson
4. Joe Turley
5. Jake Lee
6. Ellis Dunton
7. Luca Robinson
8. Reegan Messenger
9. Aidan Bennett 90+3
10. Harry Burns 63
11. Roger James
12. Daniel Grieve (Luca Robinson-85mins)
14. Charlie McCrae (Roger James-76mins)
15. Nick Peare
16. Josh Nelmes
17. Willem Pooley
Aylesbury United:
1. James Callan
2. Jack Empson
3. Jake Bewley
4. Jack Wood ©
5. David Lynn
6. Lewis Crosbie
8. Jack Moriarty
10. David Pearce
11. Kwai-De-Courcey Marsh-Brown
14. Max Cavana
18. Joshua Iheanacho
9. Ayomide Akinbobola
12. Rocko Tamplin (Lewis Crosbie-46mins)
15. Joshua Guthrie (Kwai Marsh-Brown-76mins)
16. Hayden Beadle (David Pearce-69mins) 90+5
17. Alfie Attrill