MATCH REPORT - FIRSTTEAM VS HIGHWORTH

Friendly Tuesday 7th August 2007 7.30pm

Highworth 1 Cirencester Town 1

Highworth manager Mr Fisher has put together yet another impressive squad and his Hellenic Premier outfit went at their Southern Premier opponents from the off,

Matt Pratley and Alex Rudd up front were a challenging test for the visiting defence, keeping them busy all match without ever really getting through the wall of Chris Collins, Lee Molyneux and Alex Stanley, each of whom took the armband during the match.

Ollie Holder replaced the Skipper at half time and, eventually James Baldwin replaced Moley, limping after a rash challenge on him, in the second half.

In the middle of the park young Jon Else stood out first half for Ciren, always quick to move and control the ball and, more important, able to move it with good pace and accuracy on into dangerous positions. Nathan Haisley kept winning the ball and Jacko kept feeding Jon Else. Neat stuff but not always succeeding when the ball went up front.

Ian McSherry and Phil Hall were expertly and sometimes uncompromisingly dealt with by Andrew Minturn, an ex-Centurion, and by Lee Spaulding. But enough openings were made, with Kevin Davies and Dan Holder surging forward up the flanks to send in testing crosses, for Ciren to have turned around ahead in the game.

Second half, Steve Robertson, Dan Bishop and Andy Sheppard were now on in the midfield to support Lance Lewis up front, playing first with Phil Hall before Ian McSherry came back onto the pitch to partner Lance..

Dan Wallington was a constant threat up the right and in the end it was his pace and persistence that won a spot kick when he tempted Paul Cooper to take him ..... and was past him and into the box and brought down before you could say Flash!

Given Wallo had been getting quite a battering, it was not only clever footy but an indication of his strength and resilience that he went back into the fray to win that opening. Lance Lewis took the chance to bury a sublime penalty on 84 minutes.

That equalised a goal scored by sub Justin Miller, the Muttley of Ciren not too many years ago, a minute beforehand. Paul Cooper had surged wide down the left to deliver a killer cross into the edge of the 6 yard box that deflected off triallist James Baldwin, who had shown up well in his spell.

Muttley reacted first, and instinctively, to bang the ball hard and low to go in-off the post. Typical Muttley goal scorer luck - hits the post and it is in the net.


Highworth: James Rae, Tony Joyce, Paul Cooper, Dave Hill, Lee Spaulding, Andy Minturn, Matt Boucher, Jamie Mills, Matt Pratley, Alex Rudd, Mark Boucher. Highworth did put on subs but who they were, in the absence of a team sheet, remains a mystery.

Cirencester: Matt Bulman, Kevin Davies [Danny Wallington 45], Dan Hilder, Alex Stanley, Lee Molyneux [James Baldwin 58], Chris Collins [Ollie Holder 45], Nathan Haisley [Andy Sheppard 45], Michael Jackson [Steve Robertson 45] Phil Hall [Ian McSherry 62], Ian McSherry [Lance Lewis 45], Jon Else [Dan Bishop 45]

Ref: Mr A Niermierski [Swindon] Att: 76 Ciren MoM: Alex Stanley