»Red card ruined game Griffin,
CIRENCESTER Town’s promotion hopes suffered a blow with a 3-2 defeat against Blackfield & Langley at the Corinium Stadium.
An Alexandru Albert header within the first minute and two Ben Whitehead goals were not enough for Cirencester to come away from the game with any points.
Forward Alan Griffin was sent off for a second yellow card just after halftime which gave the away side the extra man advantage to snatch the winning goal.
Oliver Dennett scored the winner 15 minutes for Blackfield after the red card and despite Cirencester’s relentless pressure, couldn’t find an equaliser.
Cirencester manager Charlie Griffin said of his brother’s dismissal: “It’s not a second yellow, both of them have gone for the ball and it’s ruined a game of football.
“Even with 10 men, we’ve dominated it but we are disappointed with the goals that we’ve given away so that’s something we’ve got to look at.
“We were pleased to go into half time on level terms and thought even with ten men we were the better team.
“I can’t fault the lads’ effort, if we play like that we will be up there, 15 games to go and a lot of points so I’ve said to the lads that that doesn’t affect our season.”
It took under a minute for Cirencester to take the lead when Albert managed to get his head to a corner and nod the ball beyond Lewis Noice.
However, Will Christopher was forced off with an injury and Blackfield equalised after 25 minutes when defender Adeoyi Olumuyiwa’s free-kick from the edge of the box was perfectly struck into the top corner.
Griffin almost gave Cirencester the lead when he leaped highest to meet a corner, but the header cannoned off the crossbar.
Cirencester regained the lead though when Tommy Anderson’s cross was slammed in by Whitehead from close range despite Noice getting a hand to it.
The away side made sure they went into the break level though after a well worked free kick was met in the air by Adam Tomasso which forced Mat Wieczorek into a superb save before the goalmouth scramble was eventually turned in by Olumuyiwa for his second.
Griffin then received his red card after the referee deemed his slide tackle as late along with his earlier booking for a high foot.
The 10 men of Cirencester then conceded the third when an original shot was saved well by Wieczorek but the rebound fell kindly to Dennett to give Blackfield the lead for the first time.
Substitute Jordan Morris had an excellent chance in the final moments of the game when the ball dropped for him inside the box, but despite a good first touch, he could not keep his shot under the crossbar.