CENTURIONS EDGE PAST A VERY CAPABLE THATCHAM TO GO INTO THE NEXT ROUND OF THE FA CUP

Cirencester Town 2

Thatcham 1

This was an untidy FA Cup match. Both teams are well set up, both teams have pace up front, both teams have resolute defenders. Much to my surprise but when you think about it not at all unexpected, both teams played this one really carefully. Looking to contain at the back, make it tight in midfield and see what happened up top, both teams knew they were on track for a win today. Not one to excite the fan wanting a thud and blunder FA Cup-tie, this game sucked me in and kept me enthralled from the off right up to the nerve wracking end. What an anorak, eh?

Mr Hughes fielded an adventurous 4-3-3 with Jamie Reid given the deep midfield role, Nick Dunn the collect and create job and the versatile Chris Williams a mix of the two. It was asking a lot of Chis Thompson and Egg to make the breaks wide on the flanks from the back. Up top Jody, The Griff and Browner had a job on with the experienced Thatcham back line very much determined not to allow them to turn and run or to get behind them.

Mr Ackling had Thatcham in a basically 4-4-2 line up but, with the exquisite midfield touch and vision of Dave Asker available to him, this was going to be a real chess game as both teams from the off set out to concede nowt but get behind the other defence. He still had the dangerous Dan Keen and electric Jamel Johnson from last year to play up front and was more than willing to have Mario Nurse and Dean Stow go up to support them.

Within 2 minutes Thatcham, playing against a typical Corinium wind, had a chance when Mario Nurse connected with a cross only for Matt Bath to get his feet right, get up and tip the header over. On 8 minutes Bathy kept Ciren in the game when he had to use his feet and blocked an on-target shot when Jamel Johnson had skipped unnervingly easily around Chris Thompson.

Both The Griff and Jody were being challenged in the air, frequently unfairly, by Flockton and Rea and the ref was spotting the shoves. Jamie Reid was oh so close with a cunning free kick, just tipped over by Studley, on the third of those infractions. The ref was on the spot, seeing everything, and Thatcham should have paid attention to that.

Ciren finally settled to a smooth attacking rhythm, with Nick Dunn by far the most constructive midfielder on the pitch and keeping Ciren moving forwards. There were a lot of just not quite connecting with the target passes from Ciren to get the mobile Jody, Griff and Browner away. Or, looking at it from the other side, more than a few very astute, if diving in to get them away, defensive interventions to close down the threats on the Thatcham goal. Whatever way you see it, Thatcham were keeping Ciren away from getting a shot off. Good defending to my mind, that.

Though Paul Studley in the Thatcham nets had no idea where the ball was going when Jamie Reid fired in a free on 12 minutes that dipped just past the angle after Rea had shoved Griff so far off the ball he could well have finished up asking for a cup of tea in the Stibbington cafe. Bit crude, Mr Rea, and not very sensible.

The match settled down into an end to end contest, Thatcham trying to get their speedy jewel, Johnson, away with long balls down the angles while Ciren were trying to work the ball in to Griff and Jody for sidefoot layoffs for the willing runner Carl Brown. Neither side was quite getting it quite right but given that the margin of error was so close it was obvious that both teams were really going for it. Albeit in a strangely calm, measured and by no means an FA Cup day way.

Having, bluntly, wasted two well won Ciren corners when Carl Brown had worked like a demon to make Olly Oatley concede Jamie Reid then sent in a left side corner for the near post on 20 minutes, Scott Griffin was far too quick and cute for the defence and met it to nod solidly past Jody Bevan's right cheek (standing on the goal line) and beyond Studley to net the opener.

Probably a fair score on the play, Thatcham got themselves together and when Chris Williams won a neat tackle against his own team-mate on 28 minutes and the ball bounced back beyond the Ciren defence, Dan Keen latched onto the ball and his shot was going inside the far post beyond Matt Bath before Johnson leapt in to get a final touch but also to interfere with play and draw a flag. Lucky escape for Ciren – they had been gutted in that move.

Did not take too long for Thatcham to make sure: a left side corner on 29 dropped along the back line of the Ciren area, not one Ciren defender managed to get a boot on the ball and Paul Taplin was storming in on the edge of the box to crack a fulminating left footer equaliser first time inside the post beyond the diving right hand of Bathy.

To say Thatcham were chuffed with that would be understated – good goal, sure, but hey, that response was a bit meff, lads. It was for just a few minutes a bit edgy for Ciren, with Keen throwing himself into aeriel challenges up the right channel to win enough of the ball for Asker to collect and pass on inside the Ciren half and Dean Stow making Tom Etheridge earn his meagre corn with two, then three, very solid tackles to stop the lad getting past him. Ciren stopped them, just as they had been stopped by an efficient and calm Thatcham defence in the previous 15 minutes.

It was turning into a fascinating contest. Thatcham were sending the ball long and being contained, Ciren were working the ball upfield and being repulsed. You could not work out which team had the boss hand at this stage. Biff, bang, the first half was going into stalemate until, with a minute or so to go, Egg won the ball with a typically Egg, backside off the floor but winning the ball tackle, was rightly carded by Mr Redmond for dangerous play.

Neil Griffiths was off at half time, stiffening up after getting a crack on 2 minutes from Keen, with Chris Thompson going into the middle and Lee Stevens in at right back. Mr Hughes has assembled a versatile team – there was no difference to the way Ciren played and Lee slotted in perfectly, capably dealing with the thrusts of Mario Nurse as Thatcham, obviously, tested him out in the opening stages of the half.

That flurry over, it was very much Ciren pressing but Thatcham very capably turning away all the thrusts. The way their defence calmly played their way out of trouble was impressive. Less impressive was their continual attempts to send Johnson away with long diagonal passes. Asker might as well have gone to get that cuppa tea on offer in the clubhouse. It meant Ciren survived without any real threat whereas Ciren looked increasingly dangerous up the other end.

On 61 minutes Griff did well to get up to and connect with a very subtle, well placed cross from the left from Jody Bevan. His neat nod inside and down freeing Carl Brown, the flag and whistle was wrong. It was quick, smart and maybe confused the otherwise very much on the ball lino. Browner popped the ball in the net anyway and the ref used his nous not to take any action. It would have been a frustration caution and I'm not sure the Laws of The Game cover that. Well played, ref.

A flurry of substitutions had Max Etheridge on for Jody Bevan, who in my opinion had played a remarkably effective game in what was a very tight match, and then Rob Dean was on for a disaffected Jamie Reid who had for some reason incurred the wrath of his gaffer moments earlier. Jamel Johnson again took advantage of the brief disruption, latching onto a clever disguised long pass from Asker that held up perfectly on the turf only for Matt Bath to pull off another good save with a block with his legs.

It was getting to edgy time in this match – either side could win it, though Ciren had more of the ball in dangerous positions but had not so far got the immovable Thatcham defence moved out of the way. On 76 minutes Tom Etheridge (how does he manage to get himself so up for the last 15 minutes of every match?) surged wide left onto a beautifully disguised and paced pass from the impressive Nick Dunn to spot Jamie Reid, who had initially set up the whole move from way out on the right, roaring in and clear beyond the far post.

Egg sent in the perfect cross, beating the defence and Reidy arrived totally unmarked four yards out only to mistime the bounce off the turf by a millimetre and send his first time effort over the bar. Groans from the crowd but hey, fellas, Reidy had seen that opening from 30 yards away and had offered for the cross! Geez. I was more than impressed that he had not only seen the chance but bust a gut to get there.

Reidy may not have scored but his surge past the increasingly weary left back was significant. Two minutes later, Chris Williams won a heck of a tackle in midfield against Asker, was then quickest to react to collect again and immediately slipped the ball sideways to Nick Dunn. His pass was perfectly placed and paced into the space behind the, by now, very, very nervy left back. Brilliant defence splitter and Carl Brown was away.

Zzzzipp. Nobody gets to Browner when he is away, clear. Perfect sense of what is on, looks up, sees and picks up The Griff lurking. On the edge of the penalty area, with the defenders on the back foot because the cross has put them on the wrong foot, Scott Griffin is deadly. Touch, set, place and the ball is past the keeper and it is 2-1 Ciren. No fuss, no messing, no slashing at the shot. Just what an increasingly nervy crowd needed.

Of course Thatcham came back, of course Ciren's defence suddenly became just a wee bit more edgy but they were solid enough to prevent any direct shot on goal and when Dean Stow just about managed to get his head onto a long left wing cross from the always impressive Dave Asker Matt Bath plunged and smothered the inside nod down.

This was an ugly match – either team could have won it, neither team got boss position in the match but two clinical strikes from the hard working Scott Griffin settled it.

Now we have North Leigh at home in the next round of the FA Cup, Saturday 12 September unless the FA rule we have to switch because of a potential clash with our ground sharing partners Gloucester City. Watch The Standard or the website for confirmation of the date.

Neither manager liked the match afterwards – 'scrappy, not our best display this year, we could not control the play' surprised me just a tad but the fact that both saw it that way showed how close this match really was.

But, we got away with it. Taplin scored a proper instead of a cheat goal this time for Thatcham, we scored twice and that is the end of this story.

Cirencester Town: Matt Bath, Chris Thompson [Zak Westlake 76], Tom Etheridge Y 43, Neil Griffiths (c) [Lee Stevens 45], Nick Dunn, Lyndon Tomkins, Jamie Reid [Rob Dean 76], Chris Williams, Jody Bevan [Max Etheridge 66], Scott Griffin, Carl Brown

subs: Jason Welsh

Thatcham: Paul Studley, Jamie Leacock (c) [Matt Bowler 82], Paul Taplin [Steve Brown 82], Dean Flockton, Sam Rea, Olly Oatley, Dean Stow [Ben McCreedy 62], Dave Asker, Dan Keen, Jamel Johnson, Mario Nurse

subs: Aaron Stevens, Sam Tucker, Steve Lee g/k

Ref: Mr P Redmond, Bicester Had IMHO a superb game. Apart from one mistake by a lino missing a run back by Carl to stay onside, not an error, not a significant incident missed. These lads did a good job today.

Att: 106 the official attendance – disappointing but as long as The FA schedule Cup games for the Bankie weekend, it is not surprising. Bluntly, they care naff all about grassroots footy – it as all about getting to the Third Round at the beginning of January. Hmm. Could we get there? Only if we are really lucky with the draw, methinks.

MoM: Our new system of having a piece of paper to fill in is fine, though there will be some like me who lose it at some time after getting beyond Cerberus on the gate and fumbling in yr pocket 2 hours later and discovering that Michael has eaten it. Hmm. There you go – Golden Goal, proey, Raffle and now MoM bits of paper to store on me person. Hope the 09-10 Club Jacket has LOADS of pockets.

Me, I thought for his 60 odd minutes on the pitch Jody did a great job keeping a very doughty Thatcham defence busy. Reidy did a good job, first to all loose balls pumped out by Thatcham while both Chris Williams and even more significantly for me Nick Dunn not only controlled the ball well but put spot on passes into the right spot after they had done that important but unspectacular part of the job of a well sorted footy team.

Scott Griffin got the vote and to be fair, when it was needed he came up with both the goals and made sure we went through. Well done Griff – a lot of hard but unrewarded running today. A bottle of weak plonk had to be some sort of consolation, eh?

My match photos were dire so, maybe just to entertain meself, I thought I'd fill out the right hand side with a few more pics. Apologies to those traditionalists who don't think levity should mix with match reports. Hey! Life's too short.

A Thursday afternoon at Wrigley Field was my alternative choice to the season opener at Paulton Rovers .... You will gather I had a boss day out

For those who don't know, Rita (and Rachael) run our Boardroom hospitality. This pic is an in-joke and could not be resisted on the trip. I think Rita, Kathie, Mark and I are just about the last remaining smokers in the club ...

Now THIS is what we should be offering as part of the Boardroom hospitality, Rita!

It is on a Route 66 Roadhouse advert in deepest Illinois. We could adapt it .....