Both teams put on a competitive display on a sweltering afternoon, with the Bristol City youngsters fielding a squad with several of the players who outclassed last season's Cirencester Town in a Glos Senior cup tie.

 

Mr Viveash still has some players to look at and gave his complete group a run out today with more to come before he makes the cut next week.

 

In a match that could have ended 5 – 5, good saves by Ciren's Tom King and the Robin's Tom Bradley and missed chances by both sets of forwards left the game at 0 – 0 late into the second half.

 

With Ciren fading up front and the pressure coming onto a beleaguered midfield, a mix of weary legs and consequently fading concentration left City with space to exploit for two late goals that put the result the visitor's way.

 

Steve Davies showed early on the right for Ciren, using poise and pace to go scooting past George Boon twice to send in testing crosses and forcing Chris Williams and Tom Bradley to work hard to deny openings for the eager Julian Alsop and the lurking Matt Williams.

 

Matt Williams went close early on for Ciren, both times after Julian Alsop cleverly put him behind Luke Wilkinson in the Bristol defence. First, having gone behind the defence his attempted lob was just a tad too strong as the ball broke away from him and cleared the bar. Soon after, his shot from Alsop's clever pass was too close to the diving Bradley.

 

At the other end Gary Thorne put on a typically forthright defensive display in the heart of the Ciren defence to contain the dangerous Marlon Jackson, working well with the speedy Kes Metitiri to make sure that whenever the youngster made a break it was calmly and cleanly closed down.

 

Ben Pugh and Adam Heath were combining well up the Ciren left flank and for long periods Ciren not only won but kept possession with good passes. They were forcing City to defend well. It was good stuff, and they restricted Ciren to sometimes impatient shots from too far out to trouble Bradley.

 

City were not getting up top quickly enough to support Jackson. When the youngster escaped twice late on in the first half, both times surging onto quick, well placed passes from Ashley Kington he should have done better than first fire wide and then too close to the commanding King.

 

Second half saw a string of Ciren replacements, and it was noticeable that the changes left the front pair with fewer accurate passes with which to press the City defence and a marked drop in ball possession up top.

 

It gave City much more time to probe the Ciren defence, with Andy Minturn now partnering Gary Thorne in the middle, with Dan Thompson switching flanks and Aaron Stevens having a stint at right back.

 

Rob Stambolziev and then Dan Ball had clear chances for City but both popped their efforts over the top after they had steadied and turned inside the tackle. Nathan Haisley had a chance for Ciren, connecting with a well placed free kick from Davies on the hour mark but not firmly enough to find the hole in the net just inside the far post.

 

But the best chance came 10 minutes earlier to Steve Davies when a quick rattle of Ciren first time passes saw him sent away only to shoot wide of the near post when a slot inside the far post would have beaten the exposed Bradley.

 

Dan Thompson, from the Ciren Academy, was as impressive on the left flank of the defence as he had been on the right and won a lot of his headers and tackles, with the quiet encouragement from Mr Thorne being heard and acted upon. Good stuff. He was unfortunate to be exposed late on for the goals.

 

Both times, misplaced midfield passes from a tiring Ciren team were gobbled up by a City defence now bossing Ciren frontmen Steve Robertson and Adam Heath with ease. Setting their own midfield free, a well placed pass through the Ciren backline by the quick thinking Nick Dunn was collected by a runner for first Rob Stambolziev and then Joe Lennox to slot calmly home in the 86^th and 89^th minutes.

 

Ciren: Tom King [Adam Miller 75], Dan Thompson, Ben Pugh [Aaron Stevens 59], Gary Thorne, Kes Metitiri [Andy Minturn 45], Rob Dean [Harry Etheridge 55], Steve Davies [Sean Bailey 65], Nathan Haisley, Julian Alsop [Steve Robertson 55], Matt Williams [Ben Ngwa 45], Adam Heath

 

City: Tom Bradley, Joe Edwards, George Boon [Aaron Holloway 58], Chris Williams, Luke Wilkinson, Nick Dunn, Joe McLennan [Dan Ball 65], Ashley Kington [Rob Stambolziev 45], Marlon Jackson, Darren Hennessey [Joe Lennox 70], Mark Magee

 

Ref: Mr E Hunt, Bristol With his two local assistants, did a very good job. Keeping up with play, he was consistent and the two times he had to have a word when it got a wee bit too hairy did so with calm authority.

 

Att: 65 Nice to see a number of Robin's fans come along to see their youngsters, with the rest of the crowd a nigh on full house of the Ciren core away support turning up to see what we are going to enjoy on our travels this year.

 

Ciren MoM: not really such a big deal as when the season starts, with the formation and personnel changing throughout the second half. Gary Thorne was impressive, not only with his quick feet to read the play and get himself there before the forward had read what was happening but also his calm but instantly obeyed instructions to his co-defenders to get into the place to do their jobs well.

 

Nathan Haisley had yet another all action work out, and once he had won the ball did well to find the right colour shirt to keep it moving. Julian Alsop will obviously win a lot of high balls but I was impressed with his ability to find a partner in space, often with very little time to make up his mind, with a neat little nod on.

 

Matt Williams was the willing legs for Alsop's promptings and worked himself into a lot of good positions to take advantage. As did Kes Metitiri in his links with Gary Thorne at the back – always quick to step up and very measured in finding a man with his pass out.

 

Ben Pugh and Dan Thompson had good outings but for me, if there has to be a MoM, it was Gary Thorne for the way he imposed himself on the match. I especially liked the way he lifted a crestfallen Miller after the second goal went in. Good stuff that. We have another leader on the pitch.