| Match Report | |
| Date : Saturday 31st July 2010 | |
| Opponents: Bishops Cleeve FC | |
| Where : Kayte Lane, Bishops Cleeve, Gloucestershire | |
| Game : Friendly | |
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After a pretty uneventful journey up (Ha Ha!) the team arrived at the home town's club which is in a lovely setting about 3 miles outside of Cheltenham. Bishops Cleeve have a lovely set up, on par with some of the Welsh Premier League sides, which included 2 stands, floodlights, clubhouse, snack shop and changing rooms. The pitch was in good condition and all was set for a good game. The game started well and Town showed all the early promise with some flowing football from the off. A good run down the right from Mark Nappieralla put the home club defence of the back foot but the cross didn't reach the Town attackers. Immediately though Town went on the attack and a poor tackle by the Cleeve left back gave a free kick near the 18 yard area. A great cross by Garry Taylor was met well by Chris Allen who glanced his header past the diving keeper after 7 minutes. Cleeve were always going to be a dangerous as their team contained players who have played at full league level and at conference level. Their main threat was in the air from former Swansea favourites Julian Alsop and Steve Jones. Nevertheless the back 4 of Rob Daniels, Christian Evans, Andy Lewis and Luke Harris dealt with this threat comfortable throughout the first half. Cleeve were getting rather touchy about being behind and a couple of dreadful tackles threatened to spoil the game but things seemed to calm down pretty quickly. This was mainly due to an equalising header on 30 minutes from Ashley Caldwell after Town gave away a simple free kick outside their box. At half time Town made a change by removing Ben Hopkins from goal and giving a run out for Ryan Lewis who made his debut for town. Ryan was soon in action but could do nothing about two goals in two minutes for Cleeve. On 57 minutes Alsop crossed for Mike Davies to score and then almost immediately Kevin Slack put the home side 3-1 up with a scruffy goal following a quick break out from defence. Changes for both sides distrupted the game somewhat but Town battled hard and on 81m another debutant, Matthew Hibbs, broke through into the box and was brought down. Captain Garry Taylor stepped up and hit the penalty against the inside of the post and it rebounded safely back into play. Immediately Cleeve went up the other end and former Gloucester City player Sam Avery put the ball comfortably into the Town goal for a 4-1 win. The scoreline was probably a bit flattering for the home side and doesn't give Town the credit they deserve but this was a good performance against a strong outfit which gives Steve Price and his coaching team a lot to be positive about as we wait for the season to kick off. |
Town Squad:
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