Cribbs were defeated in their first game of 2022 at the hands of top of the league Bishops Cleeve in a 7-goal thriller.
Following a frantic opening ten minutes in which both teams could have taken the lead, it was the home side that struck first. Jack Watts, whose effort from the left hand side of the box found the top corner beyond the flying Liam Kingston.
Cribbs had the perfect response to going a goal behind, they piled on the pressure and got a deserved equaliser, Steve Murray poking the ball over the line following a whipped set piece from the Cribbs left which was headed back across goal and bundled in by the Cribbs number 10.
Moments after Murray’s equaliser Cribbs went ahead, Ryan Radford, who had replaced the injured George Kellow with the score at 1-0, pounced on a ball after the keeper failed to deal with a back-pass and smashed his left footed effort across the keeper and into the bottom corner.
Cribbs’ advantage lasted until the stroke of halftime when Cleeve’s Jordan Annear saw his effort take a deflection and squirm past Cribbs keeper Liam Kingston following a good move down the home sides left.
The home side then took the lead in the first minute of added time at the end of the first half. Kevin Slack smashed home a low free kick from the edge of the box to restore the home sides lead at half time.
An incident in the changing rooms at halftime saw both sides reduced to ten men for the start of the second half. Cribbs’ Sonny Harnett-Balkwill and Cleeve’s Jack Watts were the men not to make it out for the start of the second half.
The second period continued in the same frantic vain as the first with both sides having opportunities to further their advantage or to restore parity on the score.
However, it was the home side who extended their advantage with 15 minutes left to play. Jordan Annear bagging his second of the game with a curling effort which clipped the underside of the bar as it found the top corner.
The fourth goal did not knock the wind out of Cribbs’ sails and 10 minutes later they found a goal to give them a glimmer of hope. Substitute Ali Boyer dived in and headed past the Bishop Cleeve keeper after a superb, whipped cross from the right side.
With 5 minutes left Cribbs were reduced to 9 men. Ryan Cainey sent off for what seemed like a simple tangling of legs on the halfway line however, the ref saw it as more than that and sent the Cribbs man off.
Cribbs could not find the equaliser with 9 men and unfortunately, begin 2022 with a defeat which leaves them 4 points off second place.
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