A Sublime Strike In Scenic Surroundings At Malvern Town
The 1st XI's season is well underway and after four league games they are second in the Hellenic League Premier Division following three wins from four games. The season began on 3 August with a Tuesday evening home match against Premier Division newcomers Hereford Lads Club who were keen to start their campaign with a positive result. Cribbs dominated the possession for large parts of the game but were made to work very hard for their victory. Despite creating the lion's share of the chances, George Kellow's clincher came in the final minutes of the game, after one of the Lads Club players had been dismissed in a case of mistaken identity. The following Saturday saw an FA Cup trip to North West London for a match against Broadfields United. For the first twenty minutes either side of the opposition's first goal, we created chances and looked the better side. However, our opponents grew into the game and played their artificial surface much better than we did to secure a 4-1 victory. Our consolation goal came from skipper Jake Hodgson after good work by new signing Will Webb. Tuesday 10 August saw another home game against Herefordshire opponents in the form of Westfields FC, a side that had enjoyed two good curtailed seasons in the Hellenic Premier Division, so would provide tough opposition. After Saturday's disappointment Cribbs came out with a very positive outlook and they took an early lead, after good work from Steve Murray saw a goalkeeping mistake allow Hodgson to sniff out his second goal of the season. 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. However, the defence stood firm for the 3-2 victory. Last Saturday saw us on the reverse of this score with a 3-2 defeat at Bradford Town that took a similar early pattern to the Broadfields match Cribbs had the better of the early exchanges and after excellent approach play, they saw Ryan Cainey thwarted by the Bradford keeper in a one on one. Largely against the run of play, Bradford took the lead through ace goal poacher George Box following a swift counter attack. 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. Disappointingly, 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. All the pressure came from Cribbs as they sought to claim a second equaliser, but they almost conceded a third goal after yet another Bradford counter attack led to a soft penalty decision. Fortunately, Box blasted the spot kick against the bar. Cribbs profited from this miss when Jake 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 vigour and defensive grit to secure a one nil win. Good work from Nick Jones, who was outstanding all night, saw Ryan Cainey play the ball to Steve Murray. Murray dummied the ball for Ali Boyer to find the telescopic legs of the captain Jake Hodgson who slotted home yet another goal. The second half saw a lot of pressure coming from Fairford but they were kept at arms length with their balls into the box meat and drink for centre backs McErlain and Burns. Excellent counter attacking from Jones saw a multitude of chances for Cribbs, but we couldn't find a second goal to make the victory comfortable. The victory left the Cribbs boss a happy man https://youtu.be/ZaMHegeGKFI