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 Centurions made the long journey across the country for their third successive match to face Biggleswade FC and had a ‘goal’ disallowed in the final minutes that would have secured three valuable points.
In terms of league positions and current form prior to the match – Biggleswade FC sat in 10th place in the league table with 42 points from 29 games played whilst Cirencester were in 6th place with 47 points from 32 games played.
Examination of the ‘6-Match Form Guide’ table reveals that ‘FC’ have secured 9 points from their last 6 games whilst ‘The Centurions’ have obtained 7 points to sit in 9th and 12th places respectively in the relevant table.
In the reverse fixture in December ‘FC’ secured a narrow 1-2 victory at The Talent Hire Stadium and with their ‘games-in-hand’ this match is the proverbial ‘6-pointer.
Starting Eleven – Cirencester made one change to the starting personnel from that which secured victory against Kempston Rovers in the previous match as Joe Turley was unavailable - Willem Pooley taking up the role normally performed by Turley and Josh Keyes making his debut on the left flank – otherwise the starting eleven was unchanged.
It was encouraged to see, as we start the final run-in to the season, a couple of players return to take seats on the bench, namely Jordan Morris (Groin) and George Peare (Achilles).
The home side kicked-off proceedings on a surprisingly warm, dry day and immediately worked the ball across the pitch so that they could develop an attack down their left flank that resulted in a goal-kick to Cirencester.
The opening exchanges were fairly even with Cirencester responding for Luca Robinson to reach the right corner before Biggleswade countered through Harry Dawson down their right flank but his shot was well wide of the target.
Both Robinson and Dawson were heavily involved during the opening ten minutes and it was following an attack from the home side that Cirencester worked the ball across the pitch, from left to right, via Harry Burns to Cameron Walters and down the line to Robinson that brought about the opening goal. Once Robinson received the ball he darted to the corner and along the by-line before delivering a cross towards the centre front edge of the home box where JOSHUA KEYES was arriving, as he cut in from the left wing, and without hesitating the 18-year-old fired the ball into the top left corner. 0-1.
A noticeable feature of the half was the pressing being performed by the young Cirencester midfield that restricted the opportunities for the home side to create any momentum but shortly before the mid-point of the half George Wheeler-Bailey cut inside from the left flank and unleashed a fierce strike from 25 yards towards the top right corner of the Cirencester goal that custodian Stuart Nelson did well to push over. The resulting corner kick was comfortably defended.
During the next ten minutes Cirencester pressed their hosts and tested their ‘keeper, Tyler Josephs, as Ben Whitehead sent in a low shot and Robinson a cross for him to deal with.
On the half hour Biggleswade mounted an attack down their right flank that started with Michael Fisher to Wheeler-Bailey, right to Dawson forward to Rio Martucci Bedingfield who crossed – cleared but recycled to be defended again.
Shortly afterwards Jake Lee sent a cross-field pass to Keyes, back to Charlie Johnson who slid it down the left channel into the home box for Whitehead to collect and shoot over the bar.
Biggleswade responded to this close call with a goal of simplicity as the ball was launched down their right channel for the busy HARRY DAWSON to collect and charge forward to within a few yards of the Cirencester box where he struck a firm shot into the bottom left corner to level. 1-1.
Cirencester continued to press until the interval but the home side survived.
Half Time: 1-1
Immediately from the re-start Cirencester worked the ball down their left flank for Keyes to shoot – deflected for a corner kick that was defended.
The home side responded as Tom Coles and Wheeler-Bailey combined for the latter to fire narrowly wide of the far-right post from left of the Penalty Spot.
During the next five minutes Cirencester pressed hard as Nick Peare supplied Johnson, down the line to Robinson - cross from the left corner defended, but the visitors were soon back as Keyes cross from the other flank was deflected to Whitehead who slipped it across the box to Robinson – shot blocked.
When the ball was cleared it was collected by Walters who slipped it down the right flank to Keyes and his cross into the 6-yard box caused mayhem as the home defence tried to clear with Whitehead and Reegan Messenger having efforts blocked in the goal-mouth before it was eventually pounced on by Josephs.
A few minutes later Kymani Skyers brought the ball out of defence and made ground down the left channel before sending it to Dawson who took it to the right corner and back to Fisher to cross – defended.
The Cirencester reply was a Whitehead shot that was deflected and cleared before Dawson again reached the right corner and crossed to the back post for an incoming Luke Oswick to collect – cross blocked for a corner kick.
Leading up to the mid-point of the half Cirencester pressed and had several efforts at the target – Robinson’s shot diverted for a corner kick whilst Messenger’s shot, Robinson’s cross and Whitehead’s header at the near post all caught by the busy Josephs.
As the game entered the final quarter Cirencester were really pressing with the home side only mounting the occasional counter and around the 80-minute mark Lee embarked on a strong run down the right channel that took him 50-yards before Skyers brought an end to his progress.
Moments before the scheduled 90-minute mark Cirencester thought they had scored when Walters played a cross-field pass to Felix Miles and he laid it off to Aidan Bennett who shot from the edge of the home box for the ball to be diverted inside the right post. The Referee initially awarded the goal but the Cirencester celebration was short lived as the Assistant Referee had raised his flag and after some discussion the ‘goal’ was disallowed as the Assistant maintained a team-mate was in an ‘offside’ position.
There was still time for Robinson to have another effort blocked and Bennett to head over before the final whistle was blown.
Full Time: 1-1
A fairly dominant performance from The Centurions as they created numerous chances, whilst restricting their hosts, but failed to convert them and as a result came away with just the one point for their efforts.
Attendance: 134 Referee: Samuel Lee
Biggleswade FC:
1. Tyler Josephs
2. Harry Dawson 36
3. Luke Oswick
4. Lawrence Marsh
5. Kymani Skyers
6. Michael Fisher
7. Lee Northfield
8. Rio Martucci Bedingfield
9. Adam Tilson
10. Thomas Coles ©
11. George Wheeler-Bailey
12. Oliver Snaith (Rio Martucci Bedingfield-46mins)
14. Adam Wedd
15. Marius-Cosmin Patru (Harry Dawson-87mins)
16. Rafael Miles (Lee Northfield-80mins)
17. Songona-Mory Kane
Cirencester Town:
1. Stuart Nelson
2. Cameron Walters
3. Charlie Johnson
4. Reegan Messenger
5. Jake Lee ©
6. Nick Peare
7. Luca Robinson
8. Willem Pooley
9. Harry Burns
10. Ben Whitehead
11. Joshua Keyes 12
12. Felix Miles (Willem Pooley-70mins)
14. Charlie McCrae
15. Aidan Bennett (Ben Whitehead-70mins)
16. Jordan Morris (Charlie Johnson-86mins)
17. George Peare