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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Click photo to view a slideshow of photos from the match
Match photos supplied by Graham Hill
The Centurions entertained CRIBBS FC at The Talent Hire Stadium in their opening fixture of 2026 and after conceding an early goal the home side responded to secure the 3-points with another hat-trick for the prolific Harlie Price.
A review of the relative positions of the two teams prior to the match revealed that CRIBBS FC sat in 20th place in the league table with 15 points from the 22 games they have played so far whilst their hosts sat in 5th place with 38 points from 23 games played.
The reverse fixture in mid-November resulted in a 4-3 victory to Cirencester after a well-contested match – with The Centurions a goal down at the interval before a 3-goal burst around the mid-point of the second half gave them the momentum to secure the victory.
The Cirencester starting eleven had a few changes from their last match with Jordan Morris returning to the starting eleven and Nick Peare and Bryan Stalley making their first starts of the season.
Elliott Keightley and Jack Horrell take seats on the bench whilst Joe Turley (injured) is unavailable. They are joined by Aidan Bennett (unavailable for the last match), Jack Freeman and Afonso Dias.
In very cold conditions the visitors kicked off playing towards The Arena end of the ground but the home side immediately countered down their right flank for Rhys Wells to send a cross towards the near post where a supporting Jonty Welch nearly latched onto a fumble before ‘keeper Aaron Greatbanks gathered.
Having survived the visitors soon showed they were here to play with some direct running as Aaron Sweete chased a ball down the centre but an alert Ronnie Newbery was quick to leave his line to collect just inside his box before Sweete could make contact.
A corner kick for the home side soon followed by a neat move involving Bryan Stalley, Nick Peare and a clever pass from Welch behind the advancing defence enabled Wells to deliver a low cross that reached the far post where two incoming Centurions were unable to convert and the threat was cleared.
Cirencester paid for this miss a few minutes later as their opponents mounted an attack to the left corner that yielded two successive corner kicks – the second of which ended with the ball in the back of the home net. Aaron Sweete delivered a deceptive kick that cleared Newbery before suddenly dropping over the other defenders near the far-right post for an incoming LOUIE FARROW to take advantage as he headed home. 0-1.
Cirencester responded to the setback by working the ball down the right flank but a wayward pass was quickly supplied to Sweete who made ground into the home box to shoot but a well- positioned Newbery comfortably caught.
As the mid-point of the half approached both sides were well in the game as loose passes were latched onto and fed forward - as illustrated when Theo Jeremy made a long run down the left flank to the side edge of the visitors box before delivering a low cross towards the Penalty Spot where a supporting Welch arrived to shoot but was denied by a superb reflex save from Greatbanks who pushed his effort onto the bar and the follow-up effort was blocked and cleared.
Almost immediately Jeremy was back again as he delivered a cross to the far-right post for Harlie Price to firmly head goalwards but once again Greatbanks reacted well to push it away from his goal but the danger was not over as George Peare attempted an overhead kick from 12-yards and this resulted in a corner kick from the left flank. The kick was sent across the visitor’s box towards the right channel front edge and after two dummy runs it reached Jeremy but his firm strike was blocked and cleared.
Cirencester had been knocking on the door but had not found a way through, but after an effort from distance had cleared the home bar, they finally made the breakthrough. A Fraser Bell cross was defended but resulted in a corner kick from their right flank that Wells delivered to Nick Peare who headed it down for HARLIE PRICE to blast into the net from a few yards at the right post. 1-1.
During the next couple of minutes there was action at both ends as Buster Reed cut left from the right front corner of the home box to shoot but straight to Newbery, followed by a cross from the right, a Welch step-over and an incoming Price rattling the cross-bar.
After the half-hour mark the visitors pressed for a period with the busy Aaron Sweete the orchestrator but without success and in the latter stages at the other end Wells had a header caught by Greatbanks and a shot strike the right post following a clever ‘chip’ from Jeremy.
When the whistle was blown to signify the interval, Cirencester were pressing with a couple of corner kicks.
Half Time: 1-1
It had certainly been a busy and eventful first period and the performance of the visitors belied their lowly position in the league table.
When Cirencester re-started the match an early opportunity fell to Welch who took on the strike but was injured in the follow-through as his shot was blocked but it was a sign of things to come.
Upon the re-start Ed Scott sent a long ball down the left flank for Jeremy to collect but as Cirencester entered the visitors box it was cleared for a counter attack involving Luco Ponsillo and Corey Stock as they exchanged passes down their left flank but the ball into the home box was intercepted by Nick Peare enabling a counter in the opposite direction.
A few minutes later Nick Peare delivered one of his customary cross-field passes to the right corner and this eventually led to a corner kick from the right flank that produced a header from George to brother Nick Peare and a downward header that Greatbanks managed to collect on his goal-line.
Cirencester were soon back again as they began to dominate play – a Bell chip to the left channel of the visitor’s box was recycled for Scott to poke to Jeremy who fired into the side-netting but as is often the case when a side begins to take control there is always an error waiting in the wings and at the hour mark a series of sliced passes/clearances resulted in Sweete collecting the ball just outside the home box but as he burst down the centre with George Peare and Scott in pursuit a heavy touch enabled Newbery to collect before he could strike.
The home side responded to this let-off by working the ball down their right flank for Wells to cross to the edge of the 6-yard box where an incoming Welch made contact but not enough to test Greatbanks, and the touch evaded Price as he followed in.
The visitor’s replied with a move involving several players but the final ball was intercepted by George Peare.
Cirencester continued to press, but were finding it difficult to break through the visitor’s resolute defence, whilst being wary of quick counter attacks with Joe Davis finding room to cross and shoot at Newbery.
As the game entered the final scheduled 5-minutes Jack Freeman sent a superb pass down the centre for Aidan Bennett to collect and run to the right-side edge of the Cribbs box before he squared it to Welch – shot blocked, Freeman shot blocked, Nick Peare shot wide of the right post.
After all these efforts the breakthrough was finally made with some simple football as Bell delivered a terrific cross towards the far-left post for HARLIE PRICE to sneak in to head home. 2-1.
Cribbs responded with a run from Amari McLeary to the left byline and a Sweete free kick that was delivered to the Penalty Spot but neither changed the score-line.
Deep into ‘added-time’ a Cirencester throw-in was slipped to Afonso Dias and as he ‘jinked’ his way into the Cribbs box, right front corner, he was tripped with Referee Craig Davenport pointing to the spot indicating a Penalty Kick.
HARLIE PRICE stepped forward to fire the spot-kick inside the right post – completing his hat-trick in the process – with the final whistle blown seconds later.
Full Time: 3-1
An entertaining game, especially for the neutrals attending, with Cribbs playing their part as they tested their hosts.
Cirencester had plenty of chances to put the game to bed but were denied by some excellent goal-keeping and determined defending.
Attendance: 167 Referee: Craig Davenport
CIRENCESTER TOWN:
1. Ronnie Newbery
2. Fraser Bell
3. Jordan Morris
4. Ed Scott
5. George Peare
6. Nick Peare
7. Rhys Wells
8. Bryan Stalley
9. Harlie Price 28, 87, 90+5P
10. Jonty Welch ©
11. Theo Jeremy
12. Elliott Keightley
14. Jack Horrell
15. Jack Freeman (Rhys Wells-76mins)
16. Aidan Bennett (Bryan Stalley-46mins)
17. Alfonso Dias (Jonty Welch-85mins)
CRIBBS FC:
1. Aaron Greatbanks ©
2. Louie Farrow 12
20. Raymond Oppong
14. Keiran Clayton
19. Buster Reed
6. James Conway
17. Luco Ponsillo
8. Oscar Sullivan
9. Anthony Essono
10. Arron Sweete
18. Corey Stock
3. Connor Campbell
11. Matthew Lee (Anthony Essono-46mins)
15. Ciaran O’Donnell (Corey Stock-89mins)
16. Amari McLeary (Raymond Oppong-88mins)
7. Joe Davis (Luco Ponsillo-67mins)