| Cirencester were in town and it was easy to see why thanks to the fleet of Mercs, Bentley's and BMW's in the car park which were left their by the Saville Row suited high rollers who, before kick off were the third highest ranking team in the county. |
| It was the hungry Tigers against the Bling Bling of the Centurians. |
| With their unusually high position in the league table you'd have thought that Cirencester might've brought a healthy array of supporters on their twenty mile trip up the A417. Sadly, that wasn't the case as the club coat bedecked bunch numbered around fifty (and thats being generous). Among the hoardes was superfan "Pylonsider" and a tall lad who used to be a City fan. Did I say club coat or turn coat? |
| City could've felt hard done by at the bitterly cold Corinium 'football pitch with walls around' six weeks earlier when the referee seemed to be Ciren's twelfth man but today the balance was redressed thanks to second half goals from Jimmy Cox and Chris Thompson. |
| With the top seven places being juggled with more frequency than the Sutton Gnome with a hot potato the win today did City a World of good. Such is their lofty position that barring a calamatous run of form, the defeat wouldn't really have bothered the men from the Cotswold town. |
| It's always hard to change a winning team but Ciren have a couple of useful strikers and Adam Howarth just had to start the game having been on the bench for the abandonment at Evesham. The unlucky man was Dave Wilkinson as he wore twelve and Thommo took his place in midfield to great effect. Added to this that we were short of Neil Mustoe, Neil Griffiths, Tom Webb and Andy Hoskins, today's team was much changed to the eleven that lined up for the away game. |
| Depending on your source, either the highly paid ex-pro's or the bosom buddy teammates of Cirencester featured pretty much the same faces that took three points off us in late February. The only change was highly rated winger Ben Fitch who replaced Adam Mayo. As good as Fitch may be their main threat comes from strikers Scott Griffin and Gareth Hopkins. |
Griffin, a striker who'd scored twice for Cinderford Town in their 0-4 mauling of City in August 2002 and a player who'd impressed Chris Burns enough to be approached to sign played with his back to goal that often that he wore his shirt the wrong way round to look as though he was attacking!
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| He did his best to dispel the myth that he never sees the goalposts as Ciren got the game off to a flying start. A free kick, for a foul on guess who (Griffin!) saw a cross to the far post that given more time Darren Robison might've done better than to screw a shot into the T-End. |
| City were being stretched by the buoyant Centurians and their only response were a couple of corners on the break that were cleared without incident. The first foul of the game, by Ciren's Andy McCabe on Adam Howarth, brought a yellow card and fears that it would be followed by many more. |
| Adie Harris found room on the left and toyed with two defenders before making a beeline for the touchline. He crossed the ball low back to Coxy whose air-shot gave Thommo the chance to shoot, but being out of practice he sliced his effort wide. |
| Now enjoying the freedom that his defensive duties have recently denied him, Chris Thompson embarked on one of his trademark runs through midfield that we've seen all too few of this season. He beat one man, then another and just overhit the ball before diving in for a fifty/fifty ball to try to recover. However, the referee deemed it dangerous, awarded a free kick to Cirencester and booked the City man! |
| A moment of excitement followed as Jimmy Cox beat the offside trap and ran onto a through ball but the Pillsbury Dough Boy in the Ciren goal had a slight advantage and got there first to clear. Lee Smith had a half chance with a shot from the edge of the area before Gareth Hopkins forced Matt Bath into saving with his legs on a swift counter attack. |
| Ex-Swansea, Weston and Scummer man Michael Jackson then brought the best out of Bathy as his volley following a half cleared free kick saw the City stopped dive full length to his right to push the ball away for a corner. From the set piece Neil Griffiths was well placed to cleared the danger after Bath struggled to hold an awkward shot through a crowd of legs. |
| Controversy followed as a Chris Burns header appeared to be handled on the line, but it seemed that many were unsighted and it happened very quickly as the referee gave nothing, much to the City Gaffer's annoyance. It might've been forgotten minutes later as a corner was cleared as far as Howarth who sent in a decent volley, but it flew just wide. The new centre back seems to have quite a will to shoot and may well notch a few goals for City in the future. |
| As good as he is going forward, Adam Howarth almost cost us a goal with his poor clearance gave Hopkins another chance. Thankfully Matt Bath held firm again to deny the Cirencester top scorer. The last chance of the half fell to Lee Smith who shot from a wide angle, but with the sheer size of the goalkeeper it was always hard to miss him. |
At half time, City would've realised that they were fortunate to still be in the game. Ciren might've scored upto three goals, they had the chances.
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| Normally the break goes without incident, except today we had to put up with the wanker of a Cirencester substitute who thought it was clever to fire balls at speed into the T-End. Not content with narrowly missing one lady, he went one better and hit a young girl in the face. Wanker. |
| Ciren started the second half how they'd played in the first and really should've taken the lead through Fitch. A cross to the far post found the beanpole winger in space and he flashed a shot wide of the target. Had he taken a touch it may well have been a different story. |
| I'm never the greatest fan of 'shepherding the ball out of play' by defenders, I feel it's lazy football, yet it goes by unpunished. Lee Smith obviously doesn't think much of it either as he rounded the defender in an attempt the keep the ball in, but for his trouble he was barged head first into the advertising boards. Nothing amiss there according to the referee! |
| With the early fright out of the way City began to play and started what was a real purple patch as the half warmed up. Such was City's dominance in such a short passage of time that they scored two goals and pretty much won the game there and then. |
| League Top Scorer Andy Hoskins, not having his best game with the ball at his feet produced one moment of magic when he threaded a perfectly weighted pass on the blindside of ex-Scummer Gary Wooton for Cox to run onto. Jimmy held off the challenge of two Ciren defenders and cooly slotted the ball past the onrushing orange blimp and into the far corner. The reaction in the T-End was absolutely wild, a noise to send a tingle down many a City fans spine. |
| This was followed by a move that should've killed the game. A defence splitting pass found Lee Smith in acres of space and the wing back ran on, spotted Jimmy Cox unmarked and passed. Sadly the goalscorer caught the ball under his feet and dug out a shot that Paul Thompson must've been surprised to save. |
| Chris Thompson went on another of his marauding run and as the back four split in front of him he took his chance to drill in a shot that just dragged wide. However he was soon to open his account for the season. |
As well as the game there was as ongoing side-contest between Fitch and Harris, from a couple of trips on each other to a spectacular dive that Fitch made to win a free kick. This time, Adie had beaten his man again in front of the Students Terrace only to be sent flying. Neil Mustoe took the ball and his near post free kick was met by the head of Chris Thompson despite the attention of four defenders. The ball seemed to take an age to bounce in, much to the relief of the T-End as they went wild. In the meantime Dave Miller jumped over the wall and tried to charge the Ciren keeper £6 admission because he'd spent so long ballwatching!
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| Jimmy Cox might've got his second when a corner found him at the far post but a defender on the post got a foot in the way to deny him. |
| After taking one too may kicks from his opponent Lee Smith was withdrawn and Keith Knight came on to face the club that he'd once captained. |
| Griff came close to scoring when his speculative overhead kick fell kindly for the keeper before Ciren's Griff won a free kick after a run that saw him ride a few challenges. The set piece took a deflection and Bathy had to be alert to reach back and palm the ball over the bar for a corner. |
| Again, as at the start of the second half the City defence were stretched and Fitch brought a good save from Bath. The ensuing corner saw a shot fizz just past the far post thanks to a touch from the head of a stooping City defender. Ciren had stepped up a gear and were on top. |
| A long clearance from the goalkeeper saw the ball fall to Griffin, unsurprisingly with his back to goal in the penalty area. Whether the bounce took both attacker and defender by surprise or not is debatable but both players went to ground with the away camp howling for a spot kick. It wasn't given but it was a great example to those present at the Corinium 'Stadium' that decisions level out over the course of the season. |
| Jimmy Cox had one more chance which came to nothing before he was replaced by the fresh legs of Adam Hemming. At the same time Cirencester's Shaun Wimble came on for Marc Richards. |
| It was quite a comfortable final few minutes as City had the points in the bag, although Hosky could've added to his tally when Hemming found him in space but his lob cleared the T-End roof. |
| A great win for the City with the three points moving us above Cirencester who have now totally surrendered their title aspirations from as recently as two weeks ago. Next week we travel to Claverton Down for the third time this season to face the full time professionals of Team Bath. Don't forget your Thermos or your sandwiches. |
| Before we finish it has to be said that even Radio Gloucestershire were there to enjoy the game. Surely it makes a refreshing change that our license money is spent covering a competetive match rather than the drudgery of a hopeless relegation battle from the slums of Cheltenham. More of the same please BBC, but don't tell the shortass! |
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