CIRENCESTER TOWN U16 V'S ST NICOLAS 14.10.07

St Nicholas 3 - 3 Cirencester Town

The long awaited battle at the top failed to separate these two excellent teams as the points were shared at The Ridings. The result leaves both teams level on 13 points.

The game started with Cirencester passing the ball around with plenty of confidence but it was St Nicks who had the first chance after 3 minutes the forwards shot went wide. St Nicks continued to dominate in midfield without threatening the Cirencester goal. After 7 minutes Cirencester took the lead when a Frances Wilson shot rebounded off the bar, hit the keeper and trickled wide to give Cirencester a corner. From the resulting Katie Kingshott corner Chyna Collings headed home from close range.

The game was played at a frantic pace which eliminated the quality normally shown by both teams. St Nicks equalised after 16 minutes when their left winger got in front of Hayley Desborough the Cirencester right back to prod home a great ball from the right. The goal lifted St Nicks, and with the hosts winning most of the 50/50 balls in midfield Cirencester were struggling to maintain any sort of possession.

St Nicholas were dominant and should have added on two occasions but erratic finishing let them down. Rebekah Nash, the Cirencester keeper, almost gifted St Nicks a second when her poor clearance was hit straight at a St Nicks player, but the first time effort was just wide.

Emily Allen was brought down on the edge of the area after 34 minutes to give
Cirencester a dangerous free kick, but Ellie Maynard’s effort never troubled the St
Nicks goal. The half time whistle blew to Cirencester’s relief as the home team had been the more dominant and had created the more quality openings.

Half Time 1-1

Cirencester had a great start to the second half when they scored after 50 seconds. Live wire Katie Kingshott headed over the advancing keeper when the Nicks defence failed to deal with a bouncing through ball.

The goal certainly ignited the match as both teams gave 110% to try and gain the upper hand. After 12 minutes of the second half it was 3-1 to Cirencester as once again St Nicks failed to deal with a high ball into there area this time it was Frances Wilson heading home the loose ball. The second goal stirred St Nicks again and they pushed forward strongly putting more pressure on the Cirencester bringing out the best from Nelly Forbes & Kallie Roberts Cirencester’s’ reliable central defenders. With just 7 minutes remaining Cirencester thought they had seen out the storm but St. Nicks scored their second after being given too much space yet again by the Cirencester midfield.

As the game approached injury time St Nicks had a good effort just over from 25 yds to the relief of the over worked Cirencester defenders. Then in injury time St Nick’s combined well on the edge of the visitors box and a half hit shot deceived everyone including the stranded Centurions ‘keeper, and rolled into the far corner - a deserved equaliser to break the Cirencester’s hearts after was a great display from both teams.