CIRENCESTER TOWN 1 BRISTOL ROVERS XI 0

Friendly Saturday 11 August 2007 3pm ko

I was having a high old time in Edinburgh, at The Fringe, so have no shame at all in nicking this report from The Standard.

Cirencester Town 1 Bristol Rovers XI 0

Cirencester Town completed their pre-season with a confidence-boosting victory to send them into the league curtain raiser, against Corby Town, on a high. Nick Stanley and Kevin Davies were resting knocks so Ciren used the opportunity to try out two local youngsters.

Swindon Town’s Alex Rigley, looking to gain match fitness after a long lay-off, started on the left side of the park with Dan Wallington taking the right wing back berth and aiming to cement a squad place.

Nick Eastham starting up front and coming on trial from Salisbury City, made it still a slightly experimental Ciren line up as he paired up front with Phil Hall.

A young Pirates team, that included 16-year old goalkeeper Spencer Cutlan from their academy, fielded most of their professionals who were not involved in the League One opener and had to work hard to contain a well drilled Ciren squad.

Ciren enjoyed the majority of possession throughout the 90 minutes and restricted the visitors to few clear-cut chances in a match that saw Ciren's keeper, Matt Bulman, barely employed.

Rovers showed the most promise during a fast-tempo opening 10 minutes, displaying the touch and movement you would expect from full time professionals. However, a well-organised Ciren outfit prevented them from straying too near their goal by applying constant pressure and the early threat was contained..

The visitors' most notable chance in the match came on 15 minutes when good interplay between Charlie Clough and Adam Mahdi on the left wing set-up striker Josh Klein-Davis. He tried his luck from 25 yards without troubling Bulman. Rovers were subsequently restricted to speculative and ineffective long-range efforts.

Town's first real threat on goal came on 21 minutes when Harry Etheridge won a free kick on the edge of Rovers' area after embarrassing Alex Kite with a clever flick past the midfielder, who could do nothing but hold the Ciren youngster back.

Left-wing back Alex Rigley saw his free kick fly narrowly past the top corner with Cutlan beaten.

The only goal in the match came on 24 minutes off a Harry Etheridge free kick from the edge of the area. The attacking movement inside the box was good and his placement was spot on to find Alex Stanley in space to head unopposed into the net past a helpless Cutlan.

At this stage Ciren were controlling the game and created a number of good chances, one coming as a result of a counter-attacking break by Chris Collins. The captain ran half the field from his own area before releasing Hall, whose shot high and wide from 25 yards out should have been on target and testing Cutlan.

Wingbacks Rigley and Dan Wallington created decent chances, crossing well after making runs down the flanks, but the opportunities came to nothing as there was a lack of pressure from the Centurion attackers in the areas where it mattered in the opposition box.

Town started the second half as they had finished the first by controlling possession, with Nathan Haisley and Harry Etheridge very prominent in their control of the tempo of the game.

However, it was Rovers who created the first chance on goal when Mahdi breached Ciren's defence for the first time by playing a ball into the path of Clough, whose shot whistled wide.

On 65 minutes, midfielder Michael Jackson came close to scoring a second for Ciren when he found space outside Rovers' area but his goalward bound shot was deflected behind for a corner.

Ciren's impressive substitute Ian McSherry also came close two minutes later when he got on the end of Wallington's looping cross and shot back across goal only for Cutlan to show his promise, palming the ball away from danger.

McSherry then set up another opportunity when his deft touch found Eastham in the area. The striker was only prevented from scoring by a last-ditch tackle by defender James Fraser.

The remainder of the game saw the quality of play from both sides fall away, understandably due to the warm playing conditions, although Jon Else again showed his class when he replaced Harry E for the final 20 minutes and worked hard to show he deserved his offer of a place in the squad.

Ciren manager Adi Viveash, who was able to experiment using different systems during the match, viewed the friendly as a confirmation that he has developed a nice balance of players in his squad.

He has decided at the moment not to sign Nick Eastham, the Salisbury youngster, but does think that in time he will be a good player at this level. Alex Ridley will however come on a month’s loan from our League 1 neighbours, working to gain an extension to his initial 3 month contract with the League One club.

Centurions: Matt Bulman, Dan Wallington, Alex Rigley (Dan Hilder 61), Alex Stanley, Lee Molyneaux, Chris Collins (c), Nathan Haisley, Michael Jackson, Nick Eastham (Ian McSherry 61), Phil Hall (Paul Hunt 82), Harry Etheridge (Jon Else 68).

Pirates: Spencer Cutlan, Tom Godsell, Tom Parinello, James Fraser, Ryan Paddock, Alex Kite (Curtis Haynes-Brown 45), Charlie Reece (Joe White 68), James Palmer, Josh Klein-Davis, Charlie Clough, Adam Mahdi.

Referee: Brian Durie. Attendance: 106. Ciren MoM: Lee Molyneux