CIREN WITHSTAND YET ANOTHER BATTERING TO TAKE ABINGDON TO AN FA CUP REPLAY ON TUESDAY

Abingdon United 0

Cirencester Town 0

On a rock hard pitch and under a blazing sun both teams battled over the full 90 minutes, with Cirencester Town goalkeeper Matt Bath keeping his team in the FA Cup with a crucial save late in the game. In spite of his best efforts to keep a feisty game under control the referee finally had to take severe action, directly giving a red card to the U's captain on 62 minutes for a brutal tackle on Tom Etheridge

Mr Hughes travelled with Nick Dunn or Chris Williams both unavailable for his midfield so put Lee Stevens in the withdrawn midfield slot and had Academy youngsters Liam Williams and Rob Hoskins on the bench. Abingdon have been hoovering up the talent from the South Oxford, North Hants and East Berkshire area and have a steady old team this year mixing up and coming talent from their youngsters with some proven local non-league players. On a roll, with 3 high scoring wins in their last three matches, from the off they were all over Ciren

Carl Brown was crowded out on 2 minutes when Beames got down to block his effort off a Jody Bevan cross but, after that early attacking flurry, Ciren were hustled unmercifully. They rarely managed to keep possession long enough to keep Abingdon pinned in their own half. The U's were mobile, got themselves into space and when they had to challenge for the ball were sticking their bodies in and not shy of giving an artful nudge here and there.

The home team hurtled into an early series of siege gun corners, flinging the ball into the six yard box and trying to muscle Ciren into submission. But were unable to get past the determined wall erected by Tomkins and Griffiths although the pair must have been a bit annoyed to see their midfield and front men fail to hold the ball and make things difficult for the huge but ponderous pair in the heart of the U's backline..

A rare Ciren move upfield saw Griffin control inside the centre circle, link with Zak Westlake and then send Bevan in behind Organ. It felt, indeed looked, more than a bit offside but Jody was away, cut in and Beames did excellently to get down and pull off a strong save as the shot fizzed across aimed for inside his far post.

At the other end the lively young Mills had the first direct Abingdon shot, skipping in from the left and skinning Zak inside then outside but then from just outside the angle of the six yard box shooting wide of the far post with Bath horribly exposed without cover. He did the same a minute later, his cross this time being blocked by Stevens but as McCalmon pounced Zak Westlake had got back on the line and kicked his follow up away out of danger. First really close call for Ciren.

On 32 minutes Ciren finally unpicked the Abingdon defence, calm clear up play by Lee Stevens in midfield, taking a touch to control, looking up then a rare on target Ciren pass finding Griffin. His come, collect and turn completely undid young Franklin hacking in at Griff's heels but, with the ref playing advantage, doing no more than get himself on the wrong side and out of the game.

A series of crisp passes exchanged out on the left channel with Chris Thompson and Jamie Reid saw Bevan put through the gap between the two unwieldy central defenders. As he escaped into the penalty area and shot Beames had come tearing out of goal and got a part of his body on the ball to deflect it wide. Very, very good save and to suggest Jody might have taken it round him and slotted in does not take account of the decisive speed with which the keeper moved.

Ciren were neither passing well or managing to stand up to the frequent nudges and niggles. Egg had a lucky moment, diving in from somewhere near Carterton to try and get to the ball in front of Osbourne-Ricketts. The yellow was the least he could have expected, probably because he did actually get the ball rather than the man. But both teams should have realised by now that this ref was not only up with play but was not going to allow feet off the ground challenges. .

Abingdon had neither the composure or the accuracy in the final third to test Matt Bath and sent far too many shooting chances high and wide when they were contained 25 yards out by the impressively resolute Ciren defence. In spite of all the running, huff and puff and switches of direction and angles, there was no chink being allowed by the defence for a pass or a clear shot. Anything overhit was being gobbled up by a very much on top of his game Matt Bath.

While Ciren were nothing like as composed or accurate in their passing the movement from Griffin and Bevan up top was keeping 4 U's back and dragging them all over the spaces. Lyndon Tomkins had an unchallenged header from a Ciren corner but did not quite connect properly and fizzed the ball over the angle. That was a clean chance there. Moments later it looked bad when Jody limped off and Jason Welsh was on – not maybe as full of running as Jody but certainly able to hold the ball up – though he was virtually full time back defending corners as Ciren again felt the full weight of the Abingdon force.

Second half Abingdon upped their intensity with Goodrham, despite being booked early on, and Merritt testing the tolerance of the referee with a continual series of niggling fouls. The free kicks they conceded lifted the siege on Ciren but Jason Welsh, isolated, was not able to work effectively at the point of attack. Any Ciren momentum swiftly ebbed away as Franklin and Pierson picked him off and swept the ball back out to their flanks.

Abingdon were turning the screw and keeping Ciren pressed back until, following a rare Ciren corner, McCalmon put in a horrible two footed tackle from behind on Tom Etheridge and received an immediate red card. The Abingdon tirade at the ref, seemingly encouraging him to find an equalising dismissal and sending Cheat comments in his direction were not echoed by the Abingdon fans beside me.

Though they did point out that it was untypical of McCalmon and maybe 'something had happened off the ball'. Given the amount of that which had already been going on, there was no doubt that whatever edge there had been in the match so far was now honed to a sharpness beyond the usual.

Ciren could have taken advantage but were beginning to allow themselves to be ruffled by the now almost frantic intensity of the Abingdon challenges and just could not get Brown or Griffin away into the channels. Lee Stevens, with Egg, was now playing in a red mist. After he hacked Goodrham down in what was a clear afters for an unseen kick moments earlier to draw a protested yellow, he was off with Liam Williams coming on at left back and Egg moving further forward. The young lad had a few hairy moments, getting caught ball watching and missing with his first forward pass, but settled admirably quickly into his defensive duties.

The balance of the match may have been different on 72 minutes when Merritt produced an almost replica two footed challenge on Chris Thompson. He got away with it as the ball broke to Griffin. By the time the advantage had been played out the moment had passed.

The fact that the sidelines had been barracking the ref after his red card decision may possibly also have been a factor in dealing with what was a visibly dangerous tackle. Thommo is a wise old hand and made sure that whenever he did have a tackle to make after that he did it hard, fair but shall we say with an extra bit of motivation.

Ciren were still being hustled into chasing the ball but Abingdon were beginning to run out of ideas and wilt in the heat. Carl Brown, increasingly frustrated throughout the afternoon, finally had time and space 30 yards out but could not beat Beames from distance. When on 76 minutes Osbourne-Ricketts finally got the better of Zak Westlake and put a low cross into the box, Matt Bath did amazingly well not only to get into position to reach the instant, low, first time shot from Beechers but hang onto the thunderbolt. Game saving stop, that.

Ciren never give up. With young Rob Hoskin on for Brown and making a lively debut, in the final pulsating 10 minutes Ciren at long last made and kept pressure on the Abingdon defence, forcing a series of corners and sending an almost constant series of free kicks into the area to keep Beames and his defence plunging to keep the Ciren attacks at bay. Chris Thompson was inches away from connecting with a killer Zak Westlake cross fizzed to the far post and Abingdon were now panicking.

Deep into added time, Griffin was set up on the edge of the box after Jamie Reid, Rob Hoskin and Jason Welsh combined calmly but sent his too perfect volley straight at Beames. A miscue may well have settled the match but now we have to see what Tuesday night brings.

Abingdon will feel that they can finish the job. But, the pitch will be a lot less hard, Ciren surely will not play as if they have never trapped a ball cleanly or made an accurate, first time, pass before, and for sure they will be better prepared for the nudges and niggles that they could not deal with in this game.

Abingdon: Jon Beames, Jeff Brown, James Organ, Richard Pierson, Tom Franklin, Julian McCalmon (c) R62, Justin Merritt Y54, Simon Goodrham Y9, John Mills, Billy Beechers [Nick Thorne 78], Elliot Osbourne-Ricketts Y62 [Ben Weedon 82]

subs: Naclet Odiambo, Luke Holder, Sam Elkins, Matt Hutton g/k

Cirencester: Matt Bath, Zak Westlake, Tom Etheridge Y17, Neil Griffiths (c), Chris Thompson Y52, Lyndon Tomkins, Jamie Reid Y90, Lee Stevens Y65 [Liam Williams 70], Jody Bevan [Jason Welsh 38], Scott Griffin, Carl Brown [Rob Hoskin 79]

sub: Rob Dean

Ref: Mr I Rathbone, Northampton Started to get barracked when the frequency of whistles for infringements began to irritate the Abingdon bench. Er, the ref only blows when he sees a foul worthy of action. He would have irritated everybody if he had blown for everything, and he did let a lot go. It is the players who commit the fouls, not the ref, so to abuse him tells me more about the abuser than the ref.

In my opinion, in a match that could well have got really out of hand, he was not only consistent but always in position. Made a misjudgment on allowing 'that advantage' and maybe chose not to come back later to deal with what was a very nasty foul.

Att: 134 Far and away the biggest Centurion following so far this season, lots of occasionals making the trip. Although we did miss the pleasantries the O'Brien family might have exchanged with their counterparts it was still nudging on towards 50 that I reconise from The Corinium.

MoM: McCalmon was the class act on the pitch until his early departure but the poll of the Ciren fans named only our defenders. Which tells you more than anything else how we felt about this one. Zak got mentions, as did Lee Stevens and Chris Thompson. More numerous were the Neil Griffiths and Lyndon Tomkins votes (mine went here – I thought he was superb today) but the clear winner, not surprisingly, was Matt Bath