Cricklade reach the last 16
19 Feb 2012

Cricklade reach the last 16 at the expense of last season’s finalist Purton in a good derby encounter.

The first half was a real derby game with both sets of players battling hard for the game, against the run of chances Cricklade took the lead through Carter on 27 minutes after Povey stole the ball off Child’s on the right hand side, and with a quick ball through the square Purton defence Carter was free, with a heavy touch he rounded Cowley, then stepped inside Hall and placed the ball into the empty net for 1-0

The lead was short lived as Coole equalised from a deflected free-kick on 28 minutes, then the lead was restored on 32 minutes as Adam Smith fed Alex Povey down the left to cross into the danger area, as Carter and McCrae challenged for the ball it fell to Price to hammer the ball home from 15 yards.

The second half Purton never real challenged until the dying minutes, before that Povey had increased the lead, a Free-kick from the right found Povey unmarked on the 6 yard line, his first shot was saved by the feet of Cowley, as the ball dropped to Povey again he bundled the ball over the line for 3-1.

On 85 minutes the tie turned after a cross from the left was not dealt with as Purton shot was saved by Mitchell, then the rebound blocked by Moulden, only to fall to Hall to bundle over the line.

With Cricklade now looking a bit shaky Purton rattled the bar on 89 minutes, as the ball was pumped into the box, Hall turned Smith and struck the bar from 20 yards as Mitchell was stranded.

Jackson: “It’s a great feeling to win games like these, we have struggled of late with putting out a strong side, and today we were able to do that, combine that with a great effort from all the players it was a great result, and our first win since 10^th December 2011. We rode out luck on a few occasions in the first half, but manage to take our chances well. The second half I thought we controlled it, we broke up play well and took the sting out of the game, and should have put the game to bed, but the last 10 minutes we did look a bit vulnerable. Purton are a good side and this is a good win, our best of the season”