CIRENCESTER TOWN 0 CORBY TOWN 0 SAT 18 AUGUST 2007 3PM

After a well respected minute’s silence in memory of our much loved Ciren stalwart and groundsman Alan Lloyd, who passed away on 8th August, both teams probed early on a wet but perfect surface, with the speccies huddled away out of the persistent rain. But, for once, the wind had dropped at The Corinium.

The Steelmen, packed with experience, dominated the opening phase. Adam Wykes was getting himself comfortably into space on the left and was threading through dangerous passes to the elusive and mobile Dean Curtis.

Richard Scott, previously at Shrewsbury and Peterborough and then with a lot of Conference experience, was bossing the game in midfield. His movement and touch let him see early openings and he set up both Liam Nicell and Chris Difante for dangerous early probes.

But the Ciren defence, with Matt Bulman safe with his handling, kept them outside the box. The threat was contained, sometimes under a lot of pressure, but no shots were coming in on target and the defence got themselves into the pace of the game and steadied.

But free kicks were being conceded - Corby were running intricate patterns to try and take the defence out of position but everything was being blocked. When Richard Scott decided to have a blast Matt Bulman saw it well and got strong fists on the strike arrowing for the top right corner and sent the ball away over the touchline.

Nicell got clear when Rigley slipped in the box but slashed wastefully wide, as did Gould when he stole around the blindside to a long cross from Duik. It looked a bit ominous but with Chris Collins, Moly and Alex very vocal in their support for each other there was actually nothing coming in to force Matt to a save.

The managers saw what was happening - Adi was out of the stand and on the touchline. A Ciren tactical switch after 20 minutes completely threw Corby, who were suddenly struggling to find space and to pick their angles.

Alex Rigley and Kevin Davies moved further up the pitch to close down the supply from Wayne Duik and Adam Wykes, with Nathan Haisley and Harry Etheridge now tucked in to midfield. And Michael Jackson, who last year when the team was beleagured had no 'outballs', this time had his two terriers to do the dog work. Jacko just got better and better today and was even better at the end of the game than he had been at the start. Nice one, little man.

The two youngsters began to stretch the huge but ponderous Corby defence. Not all the passes were hitting their targets, both Liam Daly and Derek Brown showing their experience as they eased Snaky Stanley and Phil Hall off balance as the balls came in and then cooly finding a blue shirt with their passes out.

Alex Rigley, on loan from the Swindon Town First Team squad as he works himself back to full match fitness, had a great chance for the Centurions on 30 minutes. Harry Etheridge got a split second in midfield when Jacko controlled a good pass out of defence from Lee Molyneux and set ‘H’ up in space. He put his foot on the ball. And looked up.

Instead of lumping it for the gap over the top, he spotted the superbly timed run taking Rigley beyond Duik and slotted him in. With ‘keeper Crane coming out too far, maybe he could have gone round him but chose to shoot early, fizzing an inch wide of the far post.

Corby were visibly losing control, and while Kev Davies was looking a bit out of sorts on the Ciren right he kept plugging away. With Daly and Brown now being drawn into trying to intimidate the Ciren front line, they were conceding enough fouls for Brown finally to draw a yellow for a cynical late block on Hall.

Nick Stanley, again freed by Etheridge, brought Dan Crane to a good stop on 40 minutes. And superb in-and-out movement left Alex Stanley free beyond the far post on a corner only to mistime over the top.

There was now Ciren dominance but the Corby defence did just enough to keep them level at the break. They had no answer on 38 minutes when Moly reacted first off a free kick, re-directing the ball back to the far stick and everso unlucky to see it graze the outside edge and bounce away. The 20 or so Steelmen speccies, so optimistic in the first 20 minutes, were now uneasy and grumbling at half time into their non-existent Irn Bru

Early second half Curtis wriggled past Alex Stanley to set up Chris Difante but, as with many Corby attempts, he snatched at the chance when he could have scored and bobbled the ball to Bulman. Lucky escape for the defence - the lad who scored that fateful 94th minute winner against us here last season was in space and really should have notched.

Phil Hall, now receiving the ball to feet, was tormenting Liam Daly and Steve Towers by running at the Corby defence. His shot on the hour was the best chance in a series of sweeping raids by Ciren, deflected just over the bar by the desperately plunging Brown after Michael Jackson and Nick Stanley had freed Hally in the box.

Kev Davies was now more in the game, twice nut-megging Wykes and beating him in the race. There was not always enough targets free in the box for him to hit them, partly because Corby now constantly had 6 back in and around the box.

Ciren upped the pressure, with their defence now calmly collecting as Corby resorted to the long ball out but with their forwards now noticeably less mobile and willing to close down. Moly made a game saving header, double teamed by Daly and Brown in a rare free kick in that period. Notice that 2 of their lads are blindsiding our defence - we'd been moved around too much before that ball came in and if Moly had not got his new hairstyle on that one it could have been dodgy for us.

Scott, now petulant rather than dominating, finally collected his deserved yellow when Nathan Haisley beat him to the ball and surged past with a change of pace.

Curtis collected a yellow for delay of play as Corby became frustrated. And it got tasty as Brown 3 times dumped Nathan and Snaky, with the ref each time telling the large lump that this was his very last chance. Lucky Derek Brown. He would have had no cause to complain if he had gone.

Crane and Daly combine to block Alex Stanley on 64 minutes at the end of a series of 4 corners.

Alex Rigley, by far the outstanding player on the pitch in the second half with his movement, pace and control of his space, brought Crane to a great leaping stop off a piledriver on 68 minutes as again the pressure had built and forced Corby to give the ball away.

We do need to work on being a bit more cute in the box, expecting the keeper to fumble, as twice Crane did just that, unpunished. Hally and Snaky both times were reacting rather than anticipating. You’ve got to gamble in the box, lads. Hally sure was on the spot for that one and Daly did well to throw himself at that, and Crane even better to get strong hands on it - the ball is just peeping out behind the post

With 10 minutes to go, both teams went for the clincher admirable as far as both sets of by now throughly engaged speccies were concerned. But giving the benches kittens as both teams rampaged end to end. It was getting more than a bit stretched, with Ciren now conceding free kicks as Corby upped their effort and the lads worked hard to keep up their concentration.

Alex Stanley got sucked into a dive-in right on the edge of the box, on 89 minutes, but the Corby free was bundled away. Corby were then inches away on 90 minutes, the defence letting Daly slide in on a free kick at the far post only for the pace of the ball to beat him.

On balance, a draw was a fair result with somehow Snaky drawing himself a yellow for dissent right at the close. Adi Viveash was not pleased with that.

Corby manager Kevin Wilson “Your lads played some good organised football, in my opinion deserved to win and I’m more than happy to get away with a draw.”

Oggy Hunt made a key point “They did well and, of course, I’m very pleased. But, that match is now gone and they have to do it again on Tuesday. That standard has to be kept up and I’m looking for that to happen. What I liked is they now know they can play the top teams and give them one heck of a game. Of course, today I’d have scored four”. Love it.

Centurions: Matt Bulman, Kevin Davies, Alex Rigley, Alex Stanley Y 89, Lee Molyneux, Chris Collins (c), Nathan Haisley, Michael Jackson, Phil Hall [Lance Lewis 86], Nick Stanley Y 90, Harry Etheridge
Subs: Ian McSherry, Dan Hilder, Ollie Holder, Jon Else

Steelmen: Dan Crane, Wayne Duik, Adam Wykes, Steve Towers, Liam Daly, Derek Brown (c) Y 40, Liam Nicell, Richard Scott Y 68, Dean Curtis Y 72, Chris Difante [Ricky Miller 68], James Gould [Dom Hallows 76]

Ref: Mr J Busby (Oxford) We've had him a lot, and considering he is fast-tracking to the League, we must know he will be extra fussy. His Lino missed a handball by Scott early in the second half - everybody with a view saw it, bar the Lino. And, in my opinion, he was very generous in his attempts to give Derek Brown the benefit of the doubt with some of those second half elbow-led headers ...

Att: 206 Given the rain, encouraging. About 30 or so Steelmen made the trip and by the end they were not only wet but rather disappointed by their team's display. "Could have been beaten by kids, no mistake" "No Tennants but we'll forgive you that for your good looking barmaids"

MoM: Chris Collins (Cirencester) Lots of names mentioned - H, Alex S, Moly, Riggs - but the thing that tipped it was when H dived in from 4 feet away, 2 feet high. Missed, thankfully. And the Skip picked his moment and then made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that H was doing himself and his team no favours by diving in. Good spot , that one. And great reaction from H - did not put a foot wrong after that.