SOUTHERN PREMIER SAT 29 DECEMBER 2007, 3PM

Cirencester Town 1 Clevedon Town 2

Clevedon were very obviously set up to make sure they would not concede a goal, conceding midfield possession as Ciren worked hard to win all the second balls in a feisty opening.

Although Scott Griffin and Nick Stanley got position in the Clevedon area they could not get past the wall of Scott Hendy and Rob Scott. Griffin did force his way through into the penalty area on 2 minutes after Nathan Haisley passed him clear only for Hendy to make a risky but unpunished last ditch tackle.

Two more Ciren half chances rapidly followed and were blocked before Clevedon could get into the game. Only two Clevedon shots came downwind. Matt Prosser tried his luck from distance on 12 minutes. And Kris Leek fired wide from 20 yards after he had skipped round Chris Collins up the left on 18 minutes.

Frustrating for the spectators, Ciren persisted in wasting possession. Failing to pass on the ground or to use the upwind touchline, hasty passes were instead ballooned up onto the head of Hendy and Scott.

Both Nathan and Harry E, in spite of winning most of the second ball, were far too optimistic in expecting Snaky and Griff to make much of the stuff they were pumping up to them.

Shax was now starting to put his foot on the ball and going past the tackles from the Clevedon midfield, diving in. But he too was then planting his passes down the clubhouse side.

Time after time the ball was closed down and retrieved by a solid, if uncompromising, Clevedon defence who were never being given the problem of having to think about a threat from the Ciren right.

It was difficult to play in the swirling wind but the obvious Ciren anxiety was noted, and exploited, by a wily Clevedon team. Whenever they did have the chance to play the ball out they slotted ground passes wide left to Haines.

It was an infrequent event, given Ciren's amount of possession, but Haines was forcing Dan Wallington to think about his defensive positioning and he appeared reluctant to expose himself by supporting the Ciren attacks from wide right.

As it happened, his team mates appeared just as reluctant to risk misplacing a wide right ground pass to him. Which left Griffin and Snaky Stanley valiantly but fruitlessly plunging after passes that invariably floated wide and out of play up the left.

When Paul Cochlin headed a Matt Shaxton free kick back across goal on 19 minutes, Nick Stanley was inches away from connecting. As Clevedon 'keeper Danny Greaves came plunging out to collect, his skipper Rob Scott whacked the ball away from within a wall of yellow shirts.

Griffin, who had done well to hold the ball up in the difficult conditions, got his head onto a Shaxton free kick on 39 minutes but, twisting to connect as he raced to meet the cross, his brave effort flew just past the angle

Neither side had controlled the ball long enough in a very blustery wind to make much of an impression in an unimaginative first half. With both teams persisting in ballooning long balls upfield, it was inevitable that there were 28 throw-ins on the clubhouse, windblown, touchline..

Second half, Clevedon scored within 2 minutes by the simple expedient of playing the ball on the deck on the windward side. Josh Brigham, put free on the right after an attack had been blocked, found Danny Haines unmarked behind the ball watching Dan Wallington, six yards out beyond the far post.

Haines's scuff into the middle was blocked by Bulman but fell to ex-Centurion Mike Symons, unmarked in the centre of the six yard box. He was allowed time to turn and poke home on 47 minutes. Poor goal to concede and Clevedon now knew they could win the match.

Ciren forced themselves back into the game, still winning midfield possession but again unable to turn that into strikes on goal. Danny Greaves had to win two catches from crosses under pressure but Clevedon were not really troubled.

Withdrawing Wallo and Shax, with Chappy now on to send passes in from the rightside, windblown, touchline and Steve Robertson on as a third forward, now gave Danny Greaves some work to do. When he had to, he punched. And when he felt he could make the ground, his catching was safe and positive.

Clevedon were patient and worked carefully to cement their advantage, with Haines always a safe outlet to relieve the pressure. More important, he positioned himself not only to contain any Ciren right side advances but moved quickly but almost unseen to get himself into space whenever Clevedon regained possession.

Above any other player on the pitch, his first touch was good and invariably the Clevedon attacks all stemmed from his decision to hit short, firm ground passes of no more than 15 – 20 yards to a player in space

On 71 minutes Symons received the ball, as always with his back to goal, just upfield of the centre circle. He skipped away from Nathan Haisley, diving in to contain but missing the tackle, then turned inside from Paul Cochlin. As he was doing that, Haines set off upfield, from inside his own half and aiming for the gap between the defence.

Symons slid his pass on the deck to be collected, now well upside of the dilatory Andy Chapman, by the on-rushing Danny Haines. He had come a full 50 yards at full pace to get there but calmly steadied on the edge of the box and then from 16 yards slotted diagonally inside the far post for 2 – 0.

Ciren hit back at once when a superb cross from Chapman beat the defence. Griffin let the ball get past him when he should have connected. Greaves had but a regulation pick up to make when he should have been picking the ball from out of his net.

On 74 minutes, after unceasing pressure, Cirencester were back in the game when Greaves fumbled a cunning, well flighted Alex Stanley free kick, under challenge from Robbo, over his line for a nervy 1 – 2. Given as a Greaves own goal, I felt Steve Robertson had got a toe to the ball as Greaves dived in and I'm giving it to him. So there .. the official record may well have to be changed?

But Greaves made the match winning save for Clevedon on 77 minutes when he was up and across to tip an Andy Chapman free kick, swung in from the clubhouse touchline, out of his right top corner and around the post.

On 79 minutes Paul Cochlin was a fraction off connecting with a Nick Stanley flick on from a Chapman corner as Ciren increased the pressure on an increasingly frantic Clevedon defence but without the composure truly to unpick their cover.

One incident typified Ciren's game. Worked out of defence through Paul Cochlin and Alex Stanley passes on the deck, no more than 10 yards but each time into the player in the clear, Harry E had possession in the left channel.

Slotting the ball on the deck up to Nick Stanley, Snaky came to meet it but flicked the ball on and expected Robbo to control and go when a side foot on the ground would have given Robbo a better chance of progress. Frustrated or what? The speccies certainly were.

When Alex Stanley sent him into the space up the left with a well paced ground pass on 81 minutes, Steve Robertson had a chance to do something. He danced around the covering Brigham with a neat change of pace.

Stepping inside Hendy, diving in and being made to miss, Robbo was on the edge of the box on the left and clear. He fired for goal and sent his effort flashing wide instead of crossing low and hard into the space 10 yards out where the on-rushing Griffin and Stanley were causing panic in the depleted Clevedon defence.

Ciren had missed yet another opening in a second half that they had battled to dominate for the final 20 minutes. With Clevedon playing the ball up to Simmo to shield and drive away, and then deliberately working the clock down by taking it into the corners, they kept Ciren away from their own penalty area in the last five minutes.

The Clevedon play was not pretty but it was the right tactics. And effective, reflecting their confidence that they would regain possession within 2 or 3 passes of a Ciren attack. They had done that in the early part of the second half and just about deserved a win that takes them into 6th place.

This was a Ciren team playing with little of the confidence or accuracy of passing and movement they had shown a couple of weeks earlier against Clevedon's near neighbours, W-S-M.

The visit of Hemel on Tuesday, a team over whom we seem to have the Indian Sign, will be an ideal time to get back to doing what we (and they) know they are capable of doing.

Centurions: Matt Bulman, Chris Collins (c), Alex Stanley Y4, Nathan Haisley, Lee Molyneux, Paul Cochlin, Dan Wallington [Andy Chapman 52], Harry Etheridge, Scott Griffin, Nick Stanley, Matt Shaxton [Steve Robertson 52]

subs: Michael Jackson, Hanin Romdhane, Paul Hunt

Seasiders: Danny Greaves, Josh Brigham. Mike Trought [Mitchell Page 74], Kris Leek, Scott Hendy, Rob Scott (c), Kyle Bassett [Kevin Davies 75], Steve Cook [Geraint Bater 52], Matt Prosser, Mike Symons, Danny Haines

Ref: Mr A Matthews, Melksham We have had him many times in the past and know that while he may be fussy he is consistent. And uses his linos well, encouraging them to be involved. And so it proved again, in a game with just one card for a late, dangerous tackle.

Att: 200 Well over 3 dozen Seasiders turned up, anxious up to half time but increasingly revelling in the play of their team in the second period. By the end they were on their pomp while Ciren's frozen fans drifted dispiritedly away.

Ciren MoM: I voted for Harry Etheridge. In spite of some awful choices in the first half, where he just ballooned the ball away, he stuck to it and second half was visibly more focussed on getting the ball down and playing.

Paul Cochlin got the majority vote – though, where was he when Clevedon scored their goals - but he had all through the match tried to play controlled passes out, weighting them to give the receiver a chance to control.