Evo-Stik Southern Div 1 S&W.

Cirencester Town 0 Poole Town 1.

A man-of-the-match display from combative little midfielder Steve Devlin was the difference between these sides as Poole Town capped their runaway success in the Div 1 South & West table with another victory.

In wind-tunnel conditions at the Corinium Stadium, Devlin was the only player of 22 on the pitch who appeared untroubled by the elements.

He scored a crackerjack of a free kick on the stroke of half-time, came close with a similar effort eight minutes earlier, and won every tackle and header he contested.

Nonetheless, so well did the back four of Cirencester – Anson, Henry, Beeden and Dunton – play throughout that the champions were restricted to three sights on goal, Devlin’s two set pieces and an effort by his classy midfield cohort Marvin Brooks.

Ciren repeatedly found it tough to make headway up front into the strong headwind. That said, they fashioned the only real chances in open play.

Inside two minutes, Sam Collier skidded a left-footed shot into the arms of Nick Hutchings and four minutes later Aidan Bennett had two goal-bound strikes well charged down.

A bumpy back pass almost embarrassed Ciren goalie Glyn Garner in the eighth minute as he flashed at it and edged it to second slip just wide of his posts.

Then, on 11 minutes, Collier drove an ambitious long-range volley well wide.

Devlin and Brooks began to wield greater influence and in the 37th minute Garner appeared to know little about a Devlin free kick cannonball which rebounded off the keeper’s chest to safety.

Amid all the pressure, Ciren broke at pace but Bennett, their most effective offsensive player, failed to get a clean strike on his chance just inside the box.

Ciren were just about to congratulate themselves on a job well done in the first 45 minutes when Devlin made brilliant use of the following wind to send a 30-yard piledriver past Garner off the underside of the bar.

Roles were reversed in the second period with a wind-assisted Ciren piling on the pressure from the outset, but they never really came to terms with the elements and countless long balls forward went through to Hutchings, who took every second possible before releasing the ball back into play.

The ball remained elusive to both sides but the hosts did have a great chance to get back level in the 76th minute.

A one-two with Ellis Dunton released Bennett’s in the box and his firmly struck shot from 12 yards was well parried by Hutchings, before Collier blazed the rebound over the bar.

On a rare foray forward in the 83rd minute, Poole were denied a second goal when Anson arrived from nowhere with a smothering tackle on substitute Lamin Dibba, just as he was about to pull the trigger.

The wind failed to die down but Ciren’s momentum eventually did and throwing Jamie Reid on up front for the final ten minutes could not open the door, although Beeden was not far off target with a 90th minute snapshot.

Cirencester, who have finished the season in 11th place, had more than held their own against the champions but with nothing to show for their efforts.

If manager Brian Hughes can keep his magnificent back five in place and make some judicious tweaks elsewhere, there is no reason why the team cannot be challenging at the right end of the table next season.

Cirencester Town: Garner, Anson (capt), Dunton, Beeden, Henry, Mortimer-Jones, Hooper (Bond, 68), Wells, Collier (Reid, 81), Griffin (Shepherd, 68), Bennett.

MoM: Shayne Anson (Ciren); Steve Devlin (Poole).