CLASSY CHELTENHAM STAY AHEAD OF CIRENCESTER TOWN IN A 7 GOAL THRILLER

Cirencester Town 3

Cheltenham Town 4

A classy Cheltenham Town, fielding a bright crop of their youngsters through midfield and up front, never let Cirencester get ahead in this entertaining match. Three excellent home goals were more than matched by four effective strikes from a team who were always crisp and comfortable on the ball and with the confidence to set themselves up to take their chances.

Not able to get to this match because of a family party, I'm indebted to Jon Palmer of the Echo and Danny Hall of the Standard for their full reports, which has let me put this one on the record for the website.

Cirencester were chasing shadows in the early exchanges before they found their rhythm and began to compete.

They could have been one down on 25 minutes when Cheltenham’s diminutive playmaker and man of the match Josh Emery hit the bar with a first-time effort.

Two minutes later the travelling Cheltenham fans had something even more tangible to cheer as Lewis Fathers jinked all too easily into the Ciren area, following clever set up passes from Emery and Jake Lee, before firing crisply past Tom King.

Ciren’s reply on 31 minutes was the template for what could prove to be a classic goal in 2008 – Lee Spalding set up Steve Davies who measured a pinpoint cross that was powered home by a Julian Alsop header. Jules was never going to let Shane Duff, coming back from injury in the middle of the Robins defence, get first to that juicy invitation.

Less than 60 seconds later, and before they had settled back in their positions, Ciren were behind once more. The pacy centre forward Dean Maynard was sent away by Fathers, slipping captain Gary Thorne in the box before finishing smartly.

When Harry Etheridge pulled down the elusive Marley Watkins in first half stoppage time, the former Swansea City Youth player picked himself up to finish the job from the spot.

Aaron Ledgister, who had spent some time on loan at Bath City last season and is still on the Robin's tranfer list, went close soon after the restart with a cracking shot from the edge of the box. But Ciren, who had worked hard to stay in the game, were improving by the minute and it was turning into a cracking match.

Ciren had earlier in the week taken on the young Bristol Rovers winger Adam Mahdi on loan. He had to wait all of 12 minutes before he got his first pass.

From that point, some of his touches were exquisite, none more so than the curling, left-footed free kick in the 52nd minute, awarded when Matt Williams had gone through only to be dumped on the edge of the box. The shot was destined to hit the net the moment it left Adam Mahdi's cultured boot.

Cheltenham again nipped the Ciren comeback in the bud when Watkins found Josh Emery in space 20 yards out. He made room on the edge of the box with a stylish dragback before rifling an unstoppable shot into the top right corner to restore the 2 goal advantage on 64 minutes.

An entertaining game could then have petered out, with substitutes coming thick and fast from both sides. Instead it became even more competitive as both sets of players strove to impress their respective managers to earn a ticket for the season coming.

To their credit, Ciren worked hard to pass around and through their opponents until the finish. In the 90th minute Adam Heath did some excellent work down the left channel before laying on a tap-in for Steve Robertson to notch his first goal as he continued his pre-season campaign of regaining full fitness after his end of season injury.

Cirencester: Tom King [Adam Miller 45], Lee Spalding [Sean Bailey, 79], Aaron Stevens, Gary Thorne (c) [Andy Minturn, 71], Kes Metitiri, Harry Etheridge [Robert Dean, 65], Steve Davies [Local Triallist, 62], Nathan Haisley, Julian Alsop [Steve Robertson, 59], Matt Williams [Adam Heath, 65], Adam Mahdi. Unused sub: Oggy Hunt

Cheltenham: Scott Brown, Liam Adkin [C Hoare 87], Shane Duff [J Quaynor 63], Callum Hart, Andy Nicolas, Marley Watkins , Josh Emery [J Durrants 87], Lewis Fathers, Aaron Ledgister, Dean Maynard, Jake Lee [J Barrett 78] Unused sub: J Perry

Ref: Mr Ian Hamilton, Cheltenham              Att: 115