Page 3 - Cribbs FC v Thornbury Town 240821

Today’s Game

Firstly, Cribbs FC would like to extend a very warm welcome to the visiting players, team
management, supporters and officials of Thornbury Town, together with the match officials
to this evening’s Hellenic League – Premier Division game. We hope that you enjoy your
short time with us.
Match Reports
Our last match at home was against Westfields FC, followed by two road trips, first to the
Wiltshire side Bradford Town and then to Gloucestershire outfit Fairford Town.
Tuesday 10 August saw a 3-2 victory against a talented Westfields side. Good work from
Steve Murray saw a goalkeeping mistake allow Jake Hodgson to sniff out his second goal of
the season for an early lead.
Murray extended the lead before half time after dispossessing the Westfields left back and
slotting in at the keeper's near post.
Westfields responded to the challenge with a well worked goal early in the second half,
before Murray grabbed his second after some fancy footwork saw him slot beyond the
keeper into the far corner. Matt Spiller decided to make for an exciting finish by handling the
ball whilst under no pressure as Westfields converted the subsequent penalty.
The Saturday match saw us on the reverse of this score with a 3-2 defeat at Bradford Town.
Largely against the run of play, Bradford took the lead through ace goal poacher George Box
following a swift counterattack.
Stern words from boss Rich Luffman at half time saw an instant response from Cribbs in the
second half. Lewis Hedges won a free-kick on the edge of the box and Murray claimed his
third goal of the season with a delightfully dinked freekick over the wall into the top corner.
Cribbs immediately surrendered the lead to another swift counter attack which led to a
completely unmarked Charlie Wiles-Richards heading past Liam Kingston in the Cribbs goal.
As Cribbs searched for a second equaliser, Box blasted a spot kick against the bar. Cribbs
profited from this miss when Hodgson got us back level in the last ten minutes with a
deflected volley from the edge of the box. Sadly, we could not hold on to claim the points as
poor marking from a corner saw the ball knocked down and Box claiming his second goal
from three yards.
This made Tuesday's first ever trip to Fairford Town an important match if we were to keep
tracking the early season pace setters. The lads responded with an outstanding away
performance of attacking vigor and defensive grit to secure a one nil win.
Good work from Nick Jones, saw Ryan Cainey play the ball to Steve Murray. Murray dummied
the ball for Ali Boyer to find the telescopic legs of the captain Hodgson who slotted home.
The second half saw a lot of pressure coming from Fairford, but they were kept at arm’s
length with their balls into the box meat and drink for centre backs McErlain and Burns.

This Evening’s Opponents
Thornbury Town were promoted from the Hellenic Western Division One last season and we
renew a rivalry from our days in the Gloucestershire County League. As with all local derbies,
it is sure to be a tough match.
As always, get behind the boys, who hope to build on last Tuesday’s positive performance.