Evo-Stik League Southern Premier

Corby Town 2 Cirencester Town 1

CORBY TOWN lived up to their nickname (The Steelmen) when holding on in determined fashion after going down to 10 men for the last half-hour of an entertaining match.

An even first half was characterised by numerous attacks from both sides being mounted down the flanks – with Greg Mills, in particular, causing the visiting defence a lot of problems.

Corby broke the stalemate in the 17th minute when Mills received the ball on the left, drove into the box and found the unmarked Spencer Weir-Daley who had little more than a tap-in at the far post.

Soon after the mid-point of the half an injury to an assistant referee resulted in the Corby assistant manager and goalkeeping coach taking the flag.

Five minutes later nice build-up from Cirencester ended with a deep Williams cross being headed on to the top of the net by Jarvis.

In the 37th minute Cirencester came even closer as a free kick reached Jones on the edge of the six-yard box but he drove his effort over the bar.

The second half got off to a perfect start for the home side as they increased their lead three minutes in. A free kick was launched towards the left side of the area and Weir-Daley headed the ball into the path of Elliott Chamberlain who beat Glyn Garner from the edge of the box with a deft flick.

Paul Walker then produced a brilliant save from Aidan Bennett. palming a curling shot out of the top corner.

The Cirencester pressure was rewarded in the 62nd minute when a corner kick was handled by Edi Appleton as Jarvis attempted to bundle it over the line.

Appleton was dismissed and Jarvis sent Walker the wrong way with his successful spot kick.

Try as they did, however, Cirencester could not break through the determined home defence who were throwing bodies into tackles and blocks with commendable commitment to survive the pressure.

And 10-man Corby still looked dangerous on the break, particularly during the last five minutes.

Cirencester Town: Garner, Jones (Wells, 86), Prictor, Pritchett, Liddiard, Henry (capt), Hooper, Mortimer-Jones, Jarvis, Bennett, Williams. Unused subs: Dale, Dunton.