Page 3 - Cribbs FC v Wantage Town 090822

Today’s Game

Firstly, Cribbs FC would like to extend a very warm welcome to the visiting players, team
management, supporters and officials of Corsham Town, together with the match officials.
We hope that you enjoy your evening at the Lawns.
Match Reports
Our last match was on Saturday 26 March as we took on local rivals Roman Glass St George
in the Hellenic League Bluefin Challenge Cup, which both sides came into on the back of long
unbeaten runs.
The early exchanges showed us that Glass were fully committed despite nursing a depleted
squad. However, after six minutes Cribbs took the lead as Josh Bennett’s corner reached
Ross McErlain on the right-hand side of the penalty area. Ross delivered the ball into the six-
yard box where predatory striker Steve Murray headed home.
The visitors continued to play their neat passing game and approaching the twenty-minute
mark they put us under considerable pressure resulting in two quickfire corners against
which our defence stood firm.
The benefits of a strong defence became apparent when we extended our lead on twenty-
four minutes. Nick Jones won the ball in the centre circle and laid the ball off to skipper Jake
Hodgson who played George Kellow in behind the Glass defence. The keeper parried Kellow’s
cross-shot but the ball fell to Hodgson who stabbed home after he continued to run forward,
rather than just choosing to admire his defence splitting pass.
Cribbs had chances to extend their lead further before half-time as Jones continued to be a
thorn in the side of the St George defence. Kellow had a good chance to settle the game
before half-time but could not convert after good work from the keeper.
Eight minutes into the second half the match was put beyond doubt after the strong running
Ryan Cainey robbed the left back and delivered a pin-point cross for Hodgson to head home
our third goal.
Manager Luffman saw this as a chance to make multiple substitutions and combined with St
George’s admirable persistence saw a difficult last twenty minutes or so. The opponent’s
reward came in the eightieth minute with Rhys Sarson finishing well from the edge of the
box.
This was the wake-up call we were looking for and we held on for a deserved win that brings
us to today’s match.

This Evening’s Opponents
We obviously played two league matches against Corsham this season and did not breach
what is statistically the best defence in the Hellenic League Premier Division on either
occasion.
The first fixture was at the beginning of December here at the Lawns and Corsham claimed
a two-nil victory thanks to clinical finishing.
Last month saw us make the return trip on a windy Saturday afternoon. We had decent early
chances to take the lead and played well in the second half against the wind. However, we
could not find the elusive scoring touch and the match ended nil-nil.

Clearly it is going to be yet another tough match.
As always, get behind the boys!!! UTC