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It was like a scene out of Sleepy Hollow as I emerged from my car having finally arrived at Cirencester Town FC's Corinium Stadium. On route a heavy fog had descended making driving conditions far from ideal, I'd been fearing for my safety as well as the chances of the game going ahead. Eventually the dim glow of the flood lights had come in to view and and I drove straight past the entrance to the ground as my sat nav attempted to deposit me at a near by school. I tracked back and found one of the final spaces in the car park. I followed my ears and could hear the reassuring thud of boot on ball from the players warming up. The game was on.
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Tonight's entry was free, with supporters invited to put money in Macmillan Cancer support buckets. This initiative attracted a crowd in excess of 300, well up on the clubs usual gate. With it being half term, I think there had been soccer camps running in the day and it was good to see the youth of Cirecncester out in force.
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| The fog begins to lift as the players finish there warm up |
Once inside, my first impressions of the Corinium were good. It's a fairly modern stadium, fully enclosed thanks to a combination of stands and a smart 7 foot wall filling in all the gaps. There were also plenty of big blue bins at regular intervals around the pitch. A nice touch and come to think of it, I didn't see many of the empty crisp packets or coke bottles that you often see at football.
I had a quick look in the club bar which was also impressive. A good size in itself, it also had the grand looking Barbican Suite off to the left where a considerable number of folk were enjoying pre match hospitality. Though tempted by a pint of Centurion Ale, I left the bar quickly and headed to the tea van instead where I met up with my friend Edwin who'd driven up from Bradford.
I'd come to this game pretty cold in terms of prior knowledge of the teams and their players. The only name we knew to look out for was Alfie Kilgour, the highly rated 18 year old defender on loan at Cirencester from Bristol Rovers whom Edwin used to teach history. As we checked the team list on twitter we noticed he wasn't playing. I asked the bloke next to me who seemed to be in the know and apparently he was suspended.
An interesting feature of the ground is how far apart the dug outs are from each other. They are built either side of the Steve Abbley stand which also incorporates the changing rooms and club bar, resulting in the coaching staff being closer to the corner flags than they are to each other.
As we lingered near the away end I heard a fan ask the Dunstable manager, Tony Fontanelle, if the team coach had struggled in the fog. "A coach! we can't afford one" he replied. It was noticeable that Dunstable were travelling light, apart from the starting XI and Fontanelle they didn't appear to have any support staff and I think I only spotted 3 subs. With apparent limited resources it was impressive that Dunstable started the game sitting 5th in the Southern Premier league.
Cirencester were just above the relegation zone having won at the weekend. With the fog miraculously lifting in time for kick off, it was the hosts who were on the front foot in the opening exchanges. Although Dunstable responded with a foray forward or two themselves, it wasn't against the run of play when Cirencester took the lead on ten minutes. Right back Kieran Diaz-Benitez volleyed in neatly following a deep cross from the left. The visitors sought to get themselves back in it and as the half went on you could see why they were near the top of the league.
After 35 minutes however, came the big turning point of the match. Cirencester's pacey number 10, Chilekah picked up the ball on the half way line and sped towards goal. He was clipped by Gedeon Okita and much to the surprise of pretty much everyone in the ground, the Dunstable man was promptly given a straight red. It was clearly a foul, but given that it took place so far from goal and near the touch line with at least one other covering defender, a yellow would have seemed fair.
Although I was at the opposite corner of the pitch at the time, I could just about make out some of the choice words that Fontanelle understandably had for the ref.
The home team looked to make there numerical advantage count straight away and almost added to their lead before the break. Once the underside of the cross bar came to Dunstable's rescuse and then their keeper, the tall and slender floppy haired Jack Smith made a series of impressive saves. 1-0 at half time.
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A young cheer leading troupe provided the half time entertainment, they seemed to know what they were doing and compared to Bristol Rovers now retired Blue Flames, they looked like world beaters.
After the break, Dunstable dug deep and despite having ten men, pressed hard for the equaliser. Cirencester in turn looked dangerous on the break, but time and time again were denied by Smith in goal who pulled off another string of fine saves.
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| Jack Smith and his defenders have words with the ref |
Dunstable created chances them selves, encouraged by Fontanalle on the sidelines, who was now also doubling up as physio, they had a header from a corner that went just over the bar and midfielder Talbot hit a lovely free kick which was brilliantly tipped over by Harvey Rivers. It was not to be their night though and with 5 minutes to go, Smith was eventually beaten for a second time. Some neat Cirencester passing on the left led to cross in to the box and substitute James Difford was there to volley in from close range giving the Dunstable keeper no chance.
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| Tony Fontanelle realises it's not going to be his night |
Full time and three points to the home team. Another enjoyable evening watching Southern league football. I made my way back to the car and on to the now fog free roads.
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