Ciren sink Bath

The visitors put the home side under pressure throughout the second half, but thanks to some stout defending by Gary Wotton, Alan Bird, Matthew McEntegart and Darren Robison, Ciren held on to take the points in this Dr Martens Western Division encounter.

Cirencester got the only goal of the game as early as the seventh minute when a corner from Ben Fitch was not cleared and Gareth Hopkins, latching on to the loose ball coolly found the back of the net from 12 yards.

This goal gave Cirencester the confidence to push forward and Bath keeper Ali Hines pulled off a great save at the feet of Hopkins and shortly after Scott Griffin's goal-bound shot was blocked by Peter Tisdale.

Team Bath's Luke Prince became more involved, making several dangerous runs down the left. From one, his final cross was only half-cleared and keeper Paul Thompson had to dive full-stretch to save Neil Saunders' powerful strike.

Thompson did well again to cut out two dangerous crosses from Mike Gillingham, plus another Saunders effort, and at the other end Hines pulled off another fine save to deny Hopkins.

Early in the second half, Team Bath were denied a penalty as the assistant referee had already flagged for an offside offence.

Fitch continued to cause the visitors problems and his low cross found Griffin, whose angled shot was just wide.

As the game progressed, Team Bath threatened more and former Bristol City and Rovers striker Peter Beadle had a volley headed off the line by McEntegart.

From the rebound, Thompson produced a double save to parry Tisdale's effort and then deny Saunders as Ciren held out.

Cirencester: Thompson, Bird, McEntegart, Richards, Mayo, Wotton, Robison, McCabe (Wimble 86) Hopkins, Griffin (Bevan 81) Fitch (Davis 72) Subs not used: Fraser.

Team Bath: Hines, Otto, Wisson (Stocco 75) Saunders, Ball, Peter Tisdale, Gillingham (Maye 62) Canham, Paul Tisdale, Beadle (Lewis 85) Prince. Subs not used: Lewis, Bell.

Referee: C Banks (Oxford).

Attendance: 151.