Golden goal puts Town team into Hockey Association Vase semi-final (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Golden goal puts Town team into Hockey Association Vase semi-final

A GOLDEN goal by skipper John Tasker has taken Cirencester 1st XI into the semi-finals of the Hockey Association Vase for the first time.

Urmston got into gear from the off, leaving the Town defence to scramble the ball away on several occasions. It was keeper Webb who thankfully made several last-ditch saves.

And were it not for the excellent defensive work of Collins, McGrath, Latter and Partridge, Town could easily have gone three goals down inside ten minutes.

After Urmston took their foot off the pedal, Dicker and Paine began a series of sorties.

With Urmston caught off guard, Town took the lead with Duffy forcing the ball in from a tight angle. Following several end-to-end moves, half-time arrived with no further score.

The short break seemed to help Town as they returned to the fray in a more positive mood.

Anstee and Harvey finally started to dominate the midfield and Town went ahead through Dicker from another well-drilled manoeuvre through the middle of the park.

After five minutes, Duffy was winded in a goalmouth scramble and so Tasker was introduced at right-half.

With Urmston now piling on the pressure, it required valiant defending and superb off-the- line saves from Webb and Latter to keep Cirencester in the tie.

Tired legs meant Holbrook was replaced by a now revived Duffy and Harvey by Willett. With time running out, a well-worked penalty corner enabled Urmston to draw level two minutes from time.

Town held on until the final whistle but, crucially, it was n ow all about the golden goal with the approach of extra-time.

At the toss for ends, skipper Tasker elected to keep the strong wind behind his team and give the opposition the ball.

With only seven minutes each way, Town looked to take advantage at the push-back. Surroun-ded by five players straining at the leash, the Urmston midfielder buckled under the pressure and committed a foul.

After Paul Anstee had advanced ten metres, he neatly distributed the ball wide to Duffy who jinked inside.

Spotting Tasker running in at an angle, he slipped the ball to his skipper who turned on to his reverse side before slotting it wide of the Urmston keeper.

With barely a minute of extra time played,Town had made the semi-finals with a 3-2 victory.

Tasker heaped high praise on the team that made the semi-finals with a first-ever golden goal. Webb rightly picked up the man of the match award.