Glos Senior Challenge Cup

Cirencester Town 2 Bristol Rovers Res 0

CIRENCESTER TOWN booked their place in the final of the Gloucestershire Senior Challenge Cup when brushing aside a youthful Bristol Rovers side in the semi final at the Corinium Stadium.

Bristol Rovers’ first XI, who are hoping to bounce straight back into League Two this season, might have had trouble coping with an electric Cirencester Town in the opening 45 minutes.

The Ciren part-timers’ football was slick and penetrating and Rovers’ mix of fringe first team and youth players were given a bit of a lesson.

And yet Rovers could have gone in 1-0 up at the interval after a curious refereeing decision in the 40th minute.

Aaron Ward-Baptiste appeared to be lurking five yards offside when he received a through ball which quickly prompted the adjacent linesman to flag furiously.

The referee allowed play to continue, later maintaining the ball had brushed the head of a Ciren defender, and as Ward-Baptiste bore down on goal the young striker was eventually felled in the box by back-tracking defenders.

Justice was done, however, when his tamely-hit spot kick was comfortably gathered by Glyn Garner.

It was Rovers’ only attempt on target throughout the 90 minutes.

At the other end, Ellis Dunton, Nat Jarvis, Mark Pritchett and Gethin Jones were all just inches away from scoring with headers in the first half.

Cirencester played at a very high tempo and hunted in packs to retrieve the ball if they temporarily lost it – but for absolutely no reward.

The second half was played at a much slower pace but Ciren did eventually take a deserved lead when the excellent Ian Herring found the net with a lovely curling effort from outside the box on the hour.

In the previous round, Cirencester had been pegged back late by Bristol City’s youngsters before beating them on penalties. Fortunately Ciren’s prolific top scorer Nat Jarvis nipped any possibility of a repeat in the bud with a goal in the 76th minute.

With his back to goal, Jarvis shimmied to make himself enough space to hit a firm left-footed drive into the bottom corner.

Pritchett and Jones, normally so accurate from set pieces, both wasted good opportunities late on as Ciren finished strongly.

Yate face Shortwood in the other semi on February 17 with the final to take place on the evening of April 28.

Cirencester Town: Garner, Herring (Pitts, 80), Dunton, Pritchett (capt), Liddiard (Davidge, 60), Jones, Hooper, Wells, Jarvis, Bennett (Knight, 46), Williams.

Unused subs: Henry, Bond.