DETERMINED DISPLAY BY CINDERFORD IN NARROW WIN

Due to a dire weather forecast for the West Midlands region on Friday evening I decided to scupper my plans for seeing the Hednesford v West Auckland FA Cup tie and instead headed south to the West Country.

So today I am going by train to Gloucester and although as I am heading south from Worcester, the sky is going a dark grey I'm almost certain that it will brighten up later on.

When I arrive at Gloucester, I make the short journey to the bus station and check the times of buses to Cirencester whos'e team have a cup tie against Weymouth. I decide against it as the last bus back is at 5pm which does not give me much leeway. Instead I go for Plan B and go on the bus to Cinderford on the other side of the River Severn in the Forest of Dean for their Southern League game v Godalming Town. By the time I get on the bus, the sun has come out and it's a scenic journey to my destination. Cinderford is a small town, with a population of aproximately 9,000. There is only a small shopping area but I manage to find a decent Cafe for my lunch.

Trouble is I'm not sure where the ground is and unusually for me I have no map. There are none for sale in the local newsagents and am also informed that the nearest Tourist Information Centre is in Coleford. In the end I ask a guy in the street for directions and he tells me he will personally show me the way as it's on his way home. We turn left up a footpath by the local Co-op store, a 10 minute walk through a housing estate and the ground is there on the right. I thank him gratefully and he turns off down the road in front of the ground for his house.

I walk through the car park and to the turnstile and pay my £8 admission + £1.50 for a programme. This is a new ground for me today and also 2 teams I haven't watched before. Cinderford's ground has 3 covered stands on the west side of the ground, the main one with seating being in the centre. Soon the teams come on to the pitch with the hosts in white and black and Godalming in yellow and green.

Cinderford start off in lively fashion and go close a few times to scoring in the first 20 minutes.

  Godalming are quick on the break although they are not creating many chances. 

The Cinderford No.9, Lewis Sommers is a bit of a handful for the visitors defence as he looks to be be about 6' 5'' tall and of course quite useful in the air.

There is no score by the time the interval arrives. At half-time the draw is made for of bottles of whisky and red wine and I miss out by 3 numbers for a prize.

The start of the 2nd half sees Cinderford in a more determined mood and Dualah, the Godalming keeper is covering himself in glory with some fine stops, especially when Somers nods down for a colleague who fires in a volley which he spectacularly tips over the bar.

Also Cinderford have a strong penalty appeal turned down when one of their players goes flying from a mistimed tackle after flying in to the Godalming penalty area.

On 67 minutes though their impressive midfielder Dale Evans, bursts through the centre of the visitors defence, has a shot blocked by Dualah but fires home the rebound.

(Evans wheels away after scoring and is congratulated by his team mates)

Godalming immediately mount an attack from the kick-off and have the ball in the net only to be ruled offside!

Both sides go close before the end of the game but Cinderford have hung on for a deserved win, which breaks their recent winless streak.

I'm glad I came today as it was an entertaining game in this rural outpost and I later find out that the official attendance figure for the match was 122.