Cirencester Town -0

Taunton Town-2

CIRENCESTER began life in the West Division with a 2-0 defeat at home to promotion hopefuls Taunton Town.

This was also the team’s first fixture on the newly installed 3G pitch that was handed over to the club last week.

Charlie Griffin’s selection had one change from the starting eleven that faced Bristol City U23’s in the recent Gloucestershire FA Senior Challenge Cup Final 2016-17 as Louis Loader replaced an injured Jack Horrell in midfield.

The home side kicked off proceedings but it was Taunton who had the first pot at goal within the first minute as they started very positively – not allowing their hosts to settle.

With only 10 minutes on the clock Taunton opened the scoring when Shane White, clipped the ball to the left of the penalty spot allowing Lewis Powell to dart forward, collect and calmly finish inside the left post. 0-1.

Just after the mid-point of the half Cirencester came close to levelling as Alan Griffin turned on the edge of the area and fired a right footed shot that struck the outside of the left post.

During the latter stages of the half Cirencester mounted a couple of attacks down their flanks but were unable to level the score before the interval.

Half Time: 0-1 Almost immediately from the re-start Whitehead won the ball and slipped it to Spalding who fired over from 30 yards.

A few minutes later Taunton crossed from the left and it was headed into the path of Wright, right channel of the penalty area, but Dunton was quickly across to win the ball and start a counter attack as Cirencester worked the ball down the left flank with Spalding, Whitehead, Spalding, Barcelos and Whitehead involved but the final cross from the by-line was too long for the incoming support.

Mitchell was in the action again six minutes later as he took a quick free kick to White who, seeing Wieczorek off his line, attempted an audacious chip but the ‘keeper made the catch comfortably.

At this stage the action was ‘end-to-end’ and just after the mid-point of the half Cirencester had a good chance to equalise but ‘keeper Irish pulled off two amazing saves to keep them at bay.

The double save proved to be very important as six minutes later Taunton increased their lead as a free kick from within their half entered the home penalty area and after a couple of blocks reached Powell who fired home despite the best efforts of Stoddart on the line to keep it out. 0-2.

Despite this setback Cirencester responded as Aidan Bennett carried the ball for 15 yards down the centre before firing a powerful left footed shot from 30 yards that Irish saved low to his left.

Shortly afterwards Bennett was shown a straight Red Card - after the Referee consulted with his Assistant - following a free kick award and a melee in the centre circle.

With the extra man advantage Taunton were able to control the final phase of the game.

Full Time: 0-2 The visitors displayed why they have been consistently at the top end of the table with a solid performance of organisation, power and lively forward play whilst restricting their hosts.