Friendly

Larkhall Athletic 1

Cirencester Town 2

CIRENCESTER TOWN travelled to Bath for a pre-season friendly fixture on Saturday against Southern League South & West Division One side Larkhall Athletic and returned as 2-1 victors.

Captain Mat Liddiard had to continue at centre back and the visitors' midfield was also missing Chris Taylor, James Mortimer-Jones and Adam Connolly through holiday or injury.

Larkhall, meanwhile, had plenty of Southern League experience in their side including former Centurions captain Neil Arndale, Josh Egan, Ricky Hulbert, Tom Knighton and Kyle Tooze.

Given the very hot conditions, the match was stopped after 20 minutes in each half for a drinks break.

The home side started strongly but it was Cirencester who opened the scoring after 20 minutes when Scott Bevan crossed from the left to the far post where Aidan Bennett darted in to head home.

Bevan and Bennett had combined in similar fashion for a goal against Bristol Rovers in the week.

The Centurions increased their lead five minutes from time when, after a good forward drive by Jon Else, Kalum Youngsam crossed from the right to an arguably offside Charlie Griffin and he finished calmly from right of the penalty spot.

Larkhall pulled back a consolation goal with the last kick of the game as Jamie Lyons latched on to a loose ball inside the Cirencester penalty area and his shot was deflected into the back of the net.

The next pre-season fixture for The Centurions is at Longlevens of the Hellenic League Premier Division on Tuesday night with a 7.45pm kick-off.

The warm-up games end with a visit to Steve Claridge's Salisbury next Saturday.

Cirencester Town: Rivers, Else, Coates, Liddiard, Bevan, Langworthy, Bennett, Knight, Griffin, Smith, Green.

Subs: Youngsam, Farr, Worgan.