Cirencester climb into the play-offs with emphatic win

Bristol Manor Farm..... 0

BEN Whitehead and Alan Griffin both scored twice to help Cirencester Town climb back into the play-off places with an emphatic victory over Bristol Manor Farm writes Dave Pyzer.

After a fairly evenly contested first half Cirencester took a solitary one goal lead to the interval but added four more in the second for a comfortable victory.

The game started at quite a brisk pace as both teams searched for openings and it was Cirencester who opened the scoring when Jack Freeman evaded a challenge near the penalty spot to drive it towards the top left corner where visiting ‘keeper Ben John got a hand to it but was unable to keep it out of his net.

During the remainder of the half Cirencester created a number of openings but John was in splendid form to deny them any further goals whilst at the other end the home defence was in frugal mood.

Within a minute of the interval Cirencester doubled their tally when Ben Whitehead made no mistake with a fine finish inside the left post from a low Tommy Anderson cross.

This goal seemed to knock ‘The Portwaymen’ out of their stride for a while and encouraged Cirencester to press forward but around the hour mark Troy Simpson reminded them they were still in the game when he struck the home bar from the edge of the box.

‘The Centurions’ added a third when Alan Griffin bundled a low Whitehead cross over the line at the back post and two minutes later ‘keeper John produced a sensational save to push Whitehead’s spot kick around his left post.

As the game entered the final phase Griffin converted an Aidan Bennett chip at the back post and Whitehead produced a clever flick from a low Jordan Morris cross to take the score to five and secure the points.