SCINTILLATING ATTACKING FROM CIREN BUT ANDOVER TAKE ADVANTAGE OF DEFENSIVE MISTAKES TO NOTCH A WORTHY DRAW

Cirencester Town 3 

Andover  3

The Centurions let The Lions out of their cage in a match in which the visitors should have had a severe mauling. With barely seconds remaining as the game entered the 94^th minute they once again failed to defend. A disputed Andover free kick swung in and Ciren had dropped points after bossing the attacking play in the game.

Andover had opened brightly, with Jamie Roden in midfield the fulcrum for much of their passing and Nic Eastham up front looking lively and making the Ciren defence work as he kept on the move. But they could not keep the pressure up with their own defence kept fully occupied trying to keep Scott Griffin and Carl Brown in check.

The pair were almost unstoppable up front for the Centurions and it was only some over hasty and misplaced passes that stalled the Ciren attacks. David Hook was called on to perform near miracles in the Lions' nets as he dived and plunged to keep out the goal bound efforts that started to rain in from both flanks.

On 14 minutes, diving out to punch clear from a wicked return cross from Tom Etheridge, Hook clattered into his own defender Paul Jones and was eventually taken off with what turned out to be a severe fracture of his cheekbone. Veteran Steve May, with a lot of top level non-league goal keeping experience but not much recent match practice, replaced him and had to be alert to deny Griffin and Steve Davies as Ciren peppered his goal.

The Griff and Sean Wimble nearly got through when May fumbled a Davies cross, and when Tom Etheridge plunged through on the right to hit the near post then send the rebound soaring back across goal Wimble was inches off connecting with a diving header.

As so often happens in these situations, Andover took advantage of the first clear opening offered to them. On 19 minutes Roden had brought Paul Thompson to a sprawling stop on the slippery ball when he drove a half cleared cross back into the mix. Now, losing possession on their right on 23 minutes, the Ciren defence was caught as the ball was switched across to the Ciren left.

Paul Casey was up to try and contain Kyle Swayne but was caught in no man's land as the ball was immediately slotted into the gap behind him. Ashley Jarvis scooted free up the right channel and finished firmly across Thompson from the edge of the box to find the far corner of the net. The centre of the defence had been undone by the movement in front of them and had not got any cover on when the play had switched. It was too easy.

Ciren hit back at once, Carl Brown anticipating a superb pass, back across the box, from Jamie Reid after the Ciren skipper had been freed into the right channel by clever inter-passing between Sean Wimble and Scott Griffin. Getting the jump on Paul Jones the young striker was first to the ball to sidefoot home first time from 12 yards.

Ciren had Andover rocking on their heels as they roared upfield. On 30 minutes they led through Carl Brown, again getting on the end of a lovely passing movement, breaking into the box onto a superb Griffin pass then calmly stepping inside May before rolling the ball into the back of the net for his sixth goal in five Ciren appearances.

Well in control of the match, Ciren conceded an awful equaliser within a minute when Paul Thompson allowed an innocuous left wing cross by Alex Ward to slip from his grasp. Coming to his near post to collect he seemed to slip. Somehow, what might have been a punch away or an attempt to smother turned into a deflection that rolled out to the edge of the area and Jamie Roden was unmarked and unerringly stroked the gift into the back of the net from 16 yards.

Sean Wimble was inches off restoring the Ciren lead on 34 minutes when Carl Brown, showing good awareness of Wimb's positioning and an accurate touch with his passes set him up for the shot. On 40 minutes Russ Courtney thought he had done the trick when he was first to a knockdown from a corner, stepped inside Jones and then poked home only to be denied by a bizarre flag. Given he had the big defender behind him when the ball broke and had to get the ball free to poke home, the lino must have seen somebody else (by definition it could not have been Courty) offside.

Second half Cirencester attacked incessantly, with Scott Griffin simply incandescent at the point of attack and constantly bringing Carl Brown and Steve Davis into play as Jamie Reid plugged pass after pass into the right spots. Andover survived, partly through luck and partly through doughty defending, until the hour mark.

Griffin chased and collected a pass slotted by Steve Davies up the right. Coming inside, he was inside the penalty area. With the defenders mindful of the risk in diving in, Griff diddled first Jones and then Rory Williams then calmly put Jamie Reid clear 5 yards out and he slammed the ball home for a 3 – 2 Ciren lead.

That should have been game over, and indeed Ciren went close several more times with the Andover defence just managing to keep Griffin and Brown out as they tore the backline to shreds with clever, pacey pass and move. Sometimes the wrong choice on the final pass, sometimes an unintended but effective deflection off a defender and sometimes a shot that was too close to May meant that the dominance was not turning into goals.

The clincher did not come and while the Ciren defence was coping with the Andover attacks it was clear that the visitors had not given up and kept persisting whenever possession was regained. Time after time, Andover sent the out ball wide left to Jarvis or Eastham. With Matt Sysum too often left isolated, that gave them a platform though the crosses were being dealt with well enough by Minturn and Courtney.

Matt Williams, replacing the weary Brown, had a glorious chance but steered his shot just wide after Griffin had again shown his ability to create a chance with a sublime inside pass on 84 minutes.

Twice Steve May denied Cirencester a fourth goal, first from Williams, again, and then with a defiant close range stop when Griffin spun onto a Steve Davies centre and blasted for the near post. Though there were warnings – Roden again had a chance on to a loose ball on the edge of the Ciren box but stubbed his drive wide. Then, more ominously, Jarvis had a chance as he danced into the box and it needed a superbly timed tackle by Courtney to rob him as he shaped to shoot.

And then came the final moment. With 94 minutes on the clock, Ciren possession upfield petered out when Williams tried to set Griffin up inside and Jones belted the ball clear. With not a midfielder in sight, Andover had time to collect and fed the ball wide right. Scott Mason seemed to have won his containing tackle against a flailing Alex Ward wide on the Ciren left but the otherwise impeccable referee deemed it a foul.

With all their players upfield, it was obviously the last chance for Andover. Somehow Ciren allowed Paul Jones to go free on a perfectly placed free kick. With Paul Thompson rooted to his line and the Ciren defence in disarray he threw his 6'5” frame at the ball and from 12 yards connected well and sent it crashing onto the bar and from there into the back of the net. While it was galling to see you had to admire the Andover spirit and over the piece they did deserve something out of the match.

For all their scintillating attacking verve, Cirencester had once again let a team off the hook and finished feeling like they had suffered a defeat when all the play had suggested an overwhelming home win. Next Saturday, against Bracknell, they will try once again to claim the three points their football deserves.

Cirencester: Paul Thompson, Matt Sysum, Paul Casey [Scott Mason 63], Russ Courtney, Jamie Reid (c), Andy Minturn, Steve Davies, Tom Etheridge, Carl Brown [Matt Williams 83], Scott Griffin, Sean Wimble

subs: Rob Dean, Callum Preece, Tom King g/k

Andover: David Hook [Steve May 14], Ben Buckland, Rory Williams, Bobby Swayne (), Paul Jones, Jamie Roden, Lewis Fennemore [Michael Turvey 72], Alex Ward, Nic Eastham [Jamie Barron 79], Ashley Jarvis, Kyle Swayne

subs: Phil Andrews, Sean Murphy

Ref: Mr A Shilston, Lydney We've seen him many times and once again he and his team put on a superb display. On a slippery pitch it was remarkable that there were no cautions, with only Bobby Swayne having to be spoken to for a foul too many. Credit there to the players on both teams but the point has to be made that they knew exactly why the whistle was being blown, did not chat back, and got on with the game.

Only two other comments – where did you get that whistle Mr S? It was so high pitched most of the dogs on The Beeches kept turning and wagging their tails. And, I hope that watch has gone in for repair – four added minutes? Hmm!

Att: 102 More than a few Lions arrived – fair play to them on a wet and mizzy night – and there were a few familiar faces from the Crew that stood behind the goals six or so years ago and are now all playing Saturday footy themselves. Good to see, that.

MoM: Lot of candidates in the poll – Jamie Reid, Carl Brown (now with more goals than cards – like that!) and Scot Griffin, all of whom had a big influence on the team display. But Steve Davis caught the eye even more and came out ahead on the count in a full clubhouse.