Evo-Stik Div 1 South & West.

Merthyr Town 0 Cirencester Town 0.

CIRENCESTER Town returned from the Penydarren Park home of play-off contenders Merthyr on Tuesday with a hard-fought point in a pulsating encounter that belied the 0-0 scoreline.

Merthyr dominated much of the first half, while Cirencester rode their luck and looked dangerous on the break.

The second half was more even with Cirencester proving resilient and adventurous as they kept possession better.

The visitors were without Chris Thompson (injured) and Shane Anson (working), so Jamie Reid returned to the starting XI, at right back, regaining the captain’s armband in the process. Former Centurion, Nathan Davies, was unavailable to the hosts as he was serving the second of his three-match suspension due to a recent misdemeanour.

Straight from the kick-off, Merthyr showed the confidence of a team that sits fourth in the league table – having lost only once in their last 12 matches.

They created a number of early chances before, in the 21st minute, the pacy Traylor flicked the ball past the challenging Reid and keeper Garner, only for Jon Beeden to conjure a deft clearance off the line.

Jamie Reid took a knock to his recently broken right leg while attempting to block a shot and, after struggling on for a time, had to go off just before half-time. Garner was called upon to make a couple of decent saves before, in the 30th minute, Ryan Prosser clipped the top of the bar with a shot following a five-pass move from the home team.

Just before the break, sub Liam O’Brien’s first involvement was to hit an inch-perfect pass which found Aidan Bennett striding into the area and his fiercely-hit shot just missed the left hand post.

Cirencester began the second half purposefully, forcing three early corners.

In the 58th minute, Ben Wells fed the ball to the left wing and from the resulting cross, Hooper volleyed the ball wide of the left post.

In the 63rd minute Ryan Prosser received the ball with his back to goal, just outside the Cirencester penalty area, and was allowed to turn and shoot just wide.

Eight minutes later, Wells picked out Bumphrey with one of his trademark diagonal passes and the youngster advanced on goal before dragging his effort wide of the target.

Garyn Preen, who had replaced the dangerous Traylor, wriggled his way past a couple of Cirencester players, only to shoot over the bar.

Ciren had the chance to nick it at the death when Collier attempted to chip Giles Cutlan from ten yards outside the area, but the keeper managed to catch the shot at full stretch.

Cirencester Town: Garner, Reid (O’Brien, 40), Dunton, Beeden, Henry, Mortimer-Jones, Hooper, Wells, Collier, Bennett, Bumphrey. Unused subs: Griffin, Packer.

MoM: Glyn Garner.