Slimbridge came away from The Causeway with a massive three points that took them up a place in the table and put more distance between them and the bottom four in the Southern League Division One South. It was a Will Hawes brace, a goal in each half, that did the damage, and even though Cinderford made the last ten minutes a little nervy for the Swans after converting a late penalty, the side rode out the pressure to claim the spoils.
The Swans made a frantic start to the game, with Marley Thomas and Will Hawes both having early efforts, and Cinderford struggling to get into the game. It only took seven minutes for the deadlock to be broken - Mike Ford’s effort was spilled by Cinderford Keeper Nicholas Jones, and Hawes was on hand to tuck home the rebound and put the visitors into the lead.
It was ten minutes before the hosts managed their first effort - Harrision Lea heading over a Free Kick from Jamie Bremner with Lewis Adams untroubled in the Swans’ goal.
Toby Lawrence was the next to try his luck, but his effort was blocked, and on 18 minutes, a cheeky back heel from Jack Spark was unfortunate to end up going straight to Jones who gathered safely.
Cinderford were forced into an early change on 38 minutes, when Ben Scotford, who went on to have a very impressive performance, replaced the injured Lea.
After the break, Slimbridge had to face a period of pressure from the home side, but Cinderford were unable to convert their possession into any real clear cut chances - there were a couple of early scramble sin the Slimbridge box, but the Swans defence and Adams were equal to the task and held firm.
On the hour mark, Slimbridge doubled their advantage - Some good running down the left flank by Edji Mbunga saw him flash a ball behind the Cinderford back line, and Hawes was left with the easiest of chances in front of an open goal to score his second.
Cinderford still had the occasional opportunity - Ben Brooks had a header off target from Scotford’s cross, but Slimbridge were in control of the game as it entered the last quarter of play.
Sparks had another effort saved by Jones, with Thomas unable to follow up, Hawes had another effort saved and Thomas was on the end of a lovely through ball from Ford, only to see the Keeper nick it off his toe just in time as Slimbridge continued to press.
With just over ten minutes left, Cinderford were handed a lifeline when a very soft tackle was penalised in the box, and Brooks converted the subsequent penalty. Lewis Adams went into the Referees book for his protests.
In the second minute of stoppage time, Dion Molyneux was off target with a header that was Cinderford’s final throw of the dice, and the Swans came back from the Forest with all three points.
Speaking after the game, Manager Tom Speers praised his team’s effort and performance - 'I thought we were superb – our shape was fantastic, we’ve really been banging the drum about being compact centrally and not allowing ourselves to get dragged out. We actually allowed them to come out into space that caused them trouble, we filled the gaps in behind really well. But also, when their centre backs did come out with the ball, they left some massive space behind them for us to exploit.
Cinderford looked good on the ball until they go to the our attacking third, and then they didn’t really have any ideas, and that played into our hands – I actually turned round to the boys and said ‘I’m not worried about us not having the ball here’, We were in such control without the ball, and playing in the areas that we want. We were dealing with them really well, and I think they only really had two half chances in the whole game, wheras we could possibly have been three goals up in the first fifteen minutes.
Overall I’m really pleased, it’s been a good week or so apart from that five minute spell at Melksham – it’s important to win those six pointers.
It’s great to see Will Hawes back in form – it actually goes hand in hand with the formation change which has really helped us. Also having someone up there with Will really helps, we’ve got Benny McLean a little higher, and Edgi (Mbunga) is superb on at left wing back, because he wants to get forward as much as possible. And Myron (Turner) balances on the other side, his engine allows him to get up and down fantastically, I think he’s been superb since he came to that Wing Back Role. We’ve found a real good balance in terms of being able to get bodies behind the ball – being compact and defending well, and going forward.’
Looking ahead to Saturday’s game, when Top of the Table Cirencester visit Thornhill Park, Speers struck a relaxed tone - Ciren are flying, they’ve beaten everybody around them – they’ve beaten Frome, they’ve beaten Totton, they are beating everyone, so for them to come and get a result against us wouldn’t be any kind of a shock – I’m a realist after all!
But what beating Evesham and Cinderford has allowed us is essentially breathing space and anything we can get on Saturday is a bonus – the fact we’ve got six of the last nine points actually takes all of that pressure away from us and we can go out and play a bit more freely.
Realistically, the more important game is the one at Lymington the following week – three points there would put us in an incredibly good position. It’s starting to look a lot nicer, we’re nowhere near done, but again we’ve got the games coming up for us to really look on the good side.’
Slimbridge are running a coach to Lymington Town on February 19th, and supporters can join the trip for a fare of £10. You can register your interest with the club on Saturday or else just turn up on the day. The Coach leaves Thornhill Park at 9.30am.
The Club’s Reserve side are also in action this Saturday (12th) when they travel to Sporting Club Inkberrow for a Hellenic league Division 2 West fixture that kicks off at 2pm.
Team: Adams, Spark, Turner, Ford, Dennis, Lawrence, Mbunga (Yeo76), Ogbeifun (Hands 63), Hawes (Flo 75), McLean, Thomas
Goals: Hawes 7, 60
Supporters Man Of The Match: Myron Turner
