Alec Mills and Rob Hetherington's talented reserve side went head to head tonight with local rivals Sea Mills, their closest challengers for the title.
From the off it was clear that this would be no easy game for the home team against a motivated Millers side. However, Cribbs managed to gain the initiative during the opening ten minutes after Dan Burgan tapped home following a good cross into the box.
The lead did not last long. Cribbs conceded a freekick midway within their own half and a whipped delivery was met by the head of Cribbs forward Liam Clayton, sending the ball looping over home keeper Rob Nakielny into the top left hand corner of the net.
The remainder of the half saw limited chances fall to either side with Nakielny and former Cribbs stopper, Matt Turner in the Sea Mills goal not testing their undoubted keeping skills very much. There was a strong shout for a Cribbs penalty as the assistant referee flagged for a foul in the box, but was seemingly overruled by the referee who awarded a drop ball.
The second half saw five further goals including two penalty awards.
The first penalty was won as Burgan made a mazy run into the box where he was tripped just as he had passed the last defender and was preparing to shoot. Andy Forward stepped up to send his former First XI team mate the wrong way. Turner had a great penalty stopping record whilst with Cribbs, but in this instance the experienced Forward outwitted him.
The response from the battling Millers was instantaneous and as the Cribbs defence slept they equalised to set up a big last 20 minutes.
Liam Clayton who had led the forward line excellently all night, atoned for his earlier own goal by stepping through the Millers centre backs and slotting calmly past Turner into the bottom right hand corner.
By this stage the Millers had expended a lot of energy and Cribbs started to dominate proceedings and the 4th goal took little time in arriving. A cross pinballed around the box and was met by Burgan's head at the far post. Turner sprung across his goal but could only get his fingertips on the ball as it crossed the line.
In the final minute, the Sea Mills centre half Dave Hill flew into a reckless tackle inside the 18 yard box which sent the Cribbs attacker sprawling. The referee made two decisions, one was to award a penalty and the other was to dismiss the defender who recently played in our 1st XI's excellent win at Buckland Athletic. This time Forward went more central with his penalty and powered it down the middle past the dive of Turner.
The win sends Cribbs 13 points clear at the top of the Bristol Premier Combination and one win from their remaining three games will see them clinch the title. They also have two cup finals to look forward to.
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