FOOTBALL: Griff bags a winner for Ciren (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

FOOTBALL: Griff bags a winner for Ciren

10:16pm Tuesday 1st January 2008

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Cirencester Town 1, Hemel Hempstead 0 SANTA CLAUS failed to deliver what Cirencester Town manager Adi Viveash most wanted this Christmas - a 20-goal-a-season striker.

Nonetheless, a gift-wrapped seven points out of a possible 12 over the holiday period was not a bad substitute.

An ultimately nervy win over fellow strugglers Cheshunt had been followed by a battling point at Supermarine on Boxing Day, while the New Year's Day 1-0 defeat of high-flying Hemel Hempstead swiftly banished memories of a dire, windswept display against Clevedon the previous Saturday.

Passionate and willing performances appear to have become the norm and with the turning of the year, third-from-bottom Ciren may at last have turned the corner. The manager certainly thinks so.

"It's a great start to 2008 and we need a better year than we had in 2007," insisted Viveash.

"I don't think our position in the table is a true reflection of this side.

"We have been extremely unlucky in a lot of games and I am confident we are going to have a better second half to the season.

"There will be sides down the bottom which will splash money in a bid to stay in the league. That's not possible here, so we need to exploit the loan market a bit better than we have done so far.

"Like all managers, my wish for 2008 is to find a 20-goal striker and I definitely want to add two more front men to join Snaky and Robbo."

Temporarily, he has the services of former Centurion, Scott Griffin.

Griff and Steve Robertson, who was preferred in the starting line-up to Nick Stanley, made a nuisance of themselves all afternoon.

Griff should have had a penalty five minutes before the end of the first half, but then referee Matthews had been just as generous towards the defenders when failing to penalise Ciren's Chris Collins in the box as early as the third minute.

Hemel's neat football definitely gave them the edge in the first period and if Harry Hunt had brought his shooting boots to Gloucestershire the game may have been beyond recall by the break.

After the interval, though, Ciren were the superior team. The back four of Molyneaux, Collins, Cochlin and Stanley were unseasonably mean-spirited and Nathan Haisley gave one of his best powerhouse performances in midfield.

Haisley should have scored in the 63rd minute when put clear after a clever break by Matt Shaxton. Luckily, Griff showed a poacher's instinct and was the first to react after the Haisley shot was blocked by keeper Brown.

It made up for Griff's miss eight minutes earlier when he toe-poked wide with just the keeper to beat.

Miss of the match award, though, went to Nick Stanley who, three minutes after coming on as a late substitute for Griffin, miscontrolled a Andrew Chapman left wing cross which had left him in acres of space on the penalty spot.

Fortunately, the gaffe didn't come back to haunt Ciren and they deservedly claimed the three points.

Cirencester: Bulman, Collins (capt), A Stanley, Haisley, Molyneaux, Cochlin, Shaxton, Jackson, Robertson, Griffin (N Stanley 83), Chapman. Unused subs: Etheridge, Romdhane, Hunt, Else.

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