| Today's defeat has shown the importance of this top of the table six-pointer. Ciren are now third with five games in hand over leaders Redditch, with a distinct possibility of overhauling them. City though, have now slipped to seventh place and would feel the nerves if it wasn't for their extra games. |
| For many City fans it would've been their first visit to the new Corinium Stadium without the need for floodlights, which itself wasn't a good thing as it revealed all of the faults of the ground. Among them included the lack of car parking (we almost abandoned the car in a line alongside another football pitch), no cover for standing spectators, temporary tea-bar and the only new ground in the country built on a slope! |
| However, the piss-poor facilities doesn't seem to deter half decent players from signing on the dotted line at Cirencester. Top scorer Gareth Hopkins today broke the league record for netting in consecutive games, alongside him was former Cinderford hotshot Scott Griffin and in midfield putting aside recent child molestation allegations was Micheal Jackson. |
| City fielded something of a weakened team with four suspensions catching up on us all at once with Neil Griffiths, Neil Mustoe, Tom Webb and Andy Hoskins all sidelined due to ill-discipline. The only bonuses were the return of Keith Knight, Lee Smith and Chris Thompson to first team action, with Thommo being given an all too rare run out in midfield. |
| With an icy wind blowing across the sparsely surrounded ground it would need something special to keep the hundred or so Gloucester fans warm and thanks to Adie Mings it arrived within the first minute of the game. A Smith run down the right ended with a corner that Knight whipped in to the area and it was headed goalwards where Mings and Wilko did their best to keep the ball out before the on-loan striker eventually scored. |
No sooner had the ball crossed the line, a Ciren defender had booted it clear but the telling cheers from the massed City fans gave the linesman no option but to flag for a goal, little did we know that was the last favour we'd get.
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| Rocked by the goal, and with the City fans pleasantly surprised, Cirencester went about the task of re-affirming themselves as dark horses for the title. They pretty much controlled the game for the first half hour although chances were few and far between. Most notable they headed just wide from a corner, then against a post with the rebound being rifled over the bar. |
| For City, a shot on the turn was ably handled by Paul Thompson in the Ciren goal. The keeper will have been glad that Andy Hoskins was unavailable as the last time the two met the City striker had accidentally injured him as the Tigers humbled Mangotsfield 4-1 at Cossham Street last Easter. The portly stopper then positioned himself well to block a shot from Jimmy Cox after he's been found by Lee Smith. |
| Recent signing Adam Howarth came close to getting his first goal in a City shirt but was unable to direct his header either side of the large mass between the sticks. At the other end Matt Bath was beaten but the weak shot that followed was easily cleared off the line. |
| It really should've been two when great work from Cox and a cross to the far post found Adie Harris unmarked, but he seemed to get the ball caught under his feet as he was about to shoot. Before the City winger could control the ball and try again Thompson had smothered the ball with his bellybutton. |
| City were now controlling the game and were unlucky to see a Chris Burns header cleared off the line. On a rare foray in the Tigers half, a clash between Howarth and Ciren's Scott Griffin ended with what appeared to be Griffin's hand in the City man's face. The referee however saw nothing wrong with it and merely told the striker not to do it again. |
Adie Mings almost doubled his and City's tally when his diving header from Burns' free kick seemed to pick up pace as it bounced. Thompson just stood and watched as it crashed against the post and his namesake Chris could only smack the rebound over the bar.
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| Goalkeeper Thompson then belied his critics when he denied Jimmy Cox with an agile low save to divert a shot that was destined for the back of the net away for a corner. Cox himself had been put in by a pass from Wilko with what may well have been the best ball that he has ever played. |
| City finished the half with another chance for Cox made by Minger, but the City striker doesn't seem to be having the best of times in front of goal lately and again, he missed. Somehow Matt Bath's goal hadn't been breached in the either, but the wind would play a major role in the second half. |
| Having been grateful for fifteen minutes away from the windchill in the warmth of the clubhouse, it took both players and supporters a while to get going for the second half. As the home team attacked down the slope the closest they came to scoring was a shot that arrowed just past the post. |
| Lee Smith made a rare attack forward and shot wide from Adie Mings' pass but the young wing back was having his work cut out dealing with the surging runs of Andy McCabe. City's other wing back, Adie Harris wasn't faring much better either and found his afternoon come to an end just after the hour mark when he was replaced by Adam Hemming. |
| With the ball seemingly spending an eternity at the wrong end it was with some relief that City had a couple of corners, but they came to nothing. Ciren were getting awarded more than their fair share of free kicks and Bath had to be well placed to keep a hold of a direct set piece straight at him. |
Again Howarth was penalised for a foul on Griffin, although it seemed it was a case of six to one, half a dozen to the other but this time Gareth Hopkins made City pay as he got his head to the ball and flicked it into the unguarded net. What was worse was that I was right in line with the header and had to endure the pain of seeing it fly in!
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| With the Centurians on top and City looking vulnerable it was no surprise that they scored again, and again the source was another dubious Howarth foul on Griffin. Another deep free kick, more slack marking and a free header at the far post for ex-scummer Marc Richards. |
| Another Cheltenham trainee came on when Marvin Thompson became thew third player with that surname on the pitch as he replaced former Ciren captain Keith Knight. Dave Wilkinson then became the first player to be booked after he left a foot in going for a tackle, that said he'd been the victim of a similar challenge by Darren Robison earlier in the half so could feel hard done by with his caution. |
| Now having a taste for dishing out cards, the referee did that thing that they love doing by 'sending off' City assistant boss Mike Cook, whatever good that does. Cook merely stood behind the fence and had moved no further back than Paul Thompson's waist measurement. Player / Boss Chris Burns became the third City name into the booked when he blew his top following a reward of handball against Lee Jeffries, although it looked as though the City centre-half had used his arm to stop the ball. |
| Scott Griffin finally found his way into the book after getting away with an assault on Adam Howarth in the first half, this time he made sure by almost slicing the City man in two. Back to the football and Adie Mings tried to head City back into the game but Thompson was equal to his effort. |
| Then came the moment that wound the City fans up more than the referee's full afternoon tirade against Adie Mings. Both Mings and Jimmy Cox were fouled as they tried to reach a loose ball in the box and the ball was then scooped clear by a Cirencester arm. Yet the referee waved away protests as easily as he'd been giving fouls against Mings all afternoon. |
| The game then descended into masses of injury time with half chances at either end with suggestions that the game ran until five o'clock, although I reckon we wouldn't have scored had we played until six. |
| So it's a drop from third down to seventh place for City with the top nine looking as though they'll be the ones fighting for the golden tickets. Let's just hope we're Charlie Bucket come May. |
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