Cirencester Women

CIRENCESTER ladies had a series of friendlies to kick-start the new year with the 1st team visiting strong Chippenham side, who were unbeaten other than losing to Cirencester in the second game of the season.

A determined Chippenham side allowed Cirencester little time to build attacks, and won the game 6-3 with goals from the leading club scorer, Kath Fry (2) and Megan Poole.

The 2nd XI hosted Wotton Under Edge at Deer Park and were disappointed to see a cruel deflection wrong-foot Player of the Match, Keeper Imi Grayling.

Wotton clung on to their one goal lead and as Cirencester pushed for the equaliser, a swift counter attacking saw the visitors double their lead and win the match.

The 3rd team were in league action at Deer Park and in a battling performance took all three points from Shipton Oliffe, with keeper Alice Sleeman outstanding saving from a series of Shipton penalty corner.

The pace of Millie Goodman and Saskia Longsdon created chances, and the sides persistence paid off when Jane O’Dell converted a cross to seal the win.

Cirencester Men

IT was not a great start to the New Year for Cirencester Men with three league losses.

Rearranged league fixtures were in place for the Men’s 1st, 3rd and 4th XI.

The 1st team travelled to take on second placed Leominster.

Both sides set out to attack and Leominster scored the first two goals, but after an excellent run from Alex Dennett, his cross was flicked home by Matt Hicks to bring the score back to 2-1.

With Cirencester still pushing, Rob Carmichael clashed heads with his opposite number and despite protestations was awarded a 10-minute sin-binning which allowed time for the blood wound to be treated. Leominster made the most of their numerical advantage adding a third before half time, and a further two quick goals whilst Carmichael was still side-lined.

Back to full strength, Cirencester’s confidence grew with a goal apiece from Marcus Grinnell and Matt Hicks’ second of the game.

Leominster scored their sixth before Carmichael added a fourth.

The last 10 minutes saw Cirencester throw everything at attack, only to be caught twice on the break losing 8-4.

The 3rd XI were unable to overcome a powerful Wooton Under Edge B losing the game 5-1 with a consolation goal from Jason Muir.

The 4th team found Lansdown far stronger than expected and conceded three early goals despite heroics from keeper Mark Southgate.

Cirencester adjusted well to the strong opposition, with Neil Cheesewright leading by example but despite significant pressure the side was unable to breach Lansdown defences losing the game 3-0.