CIRENCESTER TOWN are in the hat for Monday's FA Cup third qualifying draw but face a replay at Chippenham Town on Tuesday after holding the National League South outfit to a 2-2 draw, writes Dave Pyzer.

Charlie Griffin's side were eight minutes from a cup upset before Chippenham forced a late equaliser.

Cirencester were quickly out of the blocks, striking the woodwork within two minutes.

As the pressure on the home defence increased keeper Lewis Clayton produced a terrific save to deny Karnell Chambers, but he was helpless when a 35-yard howitzer from Callum Gunner put Chippenham ahead.

As the half was drawing to a close, Clayton thwarted Chambers again and Tommy Ouldridge headed wide of the right post for Town.

The second-half got off to an electrifying start as Cirencester attacker John Dennis latched onto a pass inside the penalty area and after his first shot was blocked, he tucked in the rebound.

Almost immediately Cirencester scored again when Jack Freeman collected a throw-in and drove into the Chippenham area before tucking the ball inside the right post.

As Cirencester pressed Chippenham countered and the game became end-to-end with former Ciren striker Chris Zebroski and Dennis striking the woodwork, but in the final quarter Chippenham began to press more frequently – bringing on two more forwards in search of a goal.

They finally made the breakthrough with eight minutes to go as Nat Jarvis’s header was pushed onto the post by Clayton and Luke Hopper pounced to prod it home from close range to force a replay.