Cheltenham Saracens remain unbeaten in four after their 1-0 win against Long Crendon this afternoon.
An acrobatic overhead kick from Saracens captain Paul Holmes was the difference in a scrappy affair between the two sides, a game in which recorded one sin bin and five yellow cards.
Cheltenham Saracens sat 14th out of 19 before today’s game with 27 points in 27 matches, Saracens came into this game three games unbeaten in all competitions, two of those coming in the league beating Moreton Rangers 3-1 and Chipping Sodbury Town 2-0.
Whereas for the visitors Long Crendon, they sat 18th out of 19 with 17 points in 31 matches, Crendon came into today’s game unbeaten in two, with two wins and two clean sheets, beating Southam United 4-0 and Shortwood United 1-0.
In the first half, Cheltenham Saracens started the better of the two teams, in the opening 10 minutes top scorer Jamie Goodwin caused Long Crendon a threat, he saw two efforts well saved by Josh Cullen in goal for the visitors.
Saracens found their reward, a spectacular effort from Holmes flew past Cullen in the Crendon goal and put Saracens into a well-deserved lead in the opening 25 minutes.
Towards the end of the half, the referee issued the first yellow card of the game to Henry Miles who challenged late on Crendon’s Tom Lethbridge.
In the second half, Crendon started the half well, TJ Bartley had a well-driven effort saved by Ronnie Newberry in the Saracens goal.
10 minutes into the half, Oakley James was put in the sin bin for 10 minutes, Saracens were down to 10 men which Crendon didn’t exploit.
The last half an hour of the match was very stop-start, with four yellow cards being branded out, with a yellow card going to Newberry, Saracens keeper for time-wasting.
Crendon tried to level the game, but couldn’t test Newberry as much as they wanted, George Ashworth came close for the visitors, but his header narrowly went over the bar.
Saracens came away with the 1-0 win against Long Crendon in a scrappy contest.
Saracens move onto 30 points for the season but stay comfortable in 14th place. For Long Crendon, their 2 win streak comes to an end, and stay 18th on 17 points, with Chipping Sodbury Town one point below them with three games in hand.
On Tuesday ‘The Sarries’ travel to Fc Stratford – 7:45 pm – The Arden Garages Stadium – 20/02/24
Next up for Long Crendon, they host Moreton Rangers in a 6-point match down at the bottom of the table – 3:00 pm – Saturday at the Velocity Stadium – 24/02/24
