Cirencester Town centre-back Andy Lewis was left with mixed emotions after his ‘slow-motion’ goal was not enough to keep his side in the Marsh Challenge Cup.
Lewis opened the scoring with a beauty of an overhead kick early in the first-half but a late Clanfield FC equaliser took the game to penalties where they lost in a thrilling 11-10 shoot-out.
The defender was gutted at full-time, believing his acrobatic goal should have sealed the win in 90 minutes. A rare goal for the Cirencester number four will be a moment for him but one that will not drive towards any silverware.
“I don’t think I’ve ever done a bicycle kick before if I’m being honest. The ball was in the air, and I had no other way of getting it in that direction (towards the goal), so I had to try and bicycle kick it.
“I turned around and it went in. It felt like it went in slow motion. It wasn’t the purest strike, but I don’t score many, so I’ll take that.”
With the winter season closing, Lewis admitted the Talent Hire Stadium pitch played a part in how the game panned out.
“Difficult game wasn’t it? The pitch is awful, so it was never going to be a pretty game of football. We’re disappointed that it went to penalties.
“We were 1-0 up and had two great chances to make it 2-0. They’ve stayed in the game and fair play to them. They take a goal right at the end, but we feel we should have won that in normal time.”
Lewis and his side will have to brush off Saturday’s cup exit and focus back on the league where they encounter Slimbridge on the road at Thornhill Park.
“With Slimbridge next and four or five games to go, we want to try and finish on a high. We are unlikely to go down, we are not going to reach the playoffs, but if we can win four or five and go into next season on a bit of a run that would be great.
“The boys have picked up form in the last two or three months so if we can go and get a couple more wins we can end the season on a high.”
The journeyman was confident in his side’s ability to play through a busy schedule despite his trust in his own body.
“It’s tough when you get to my age, for most of the boys it is fine. If you have played in this league or the leagues above for the last few years, you are used to playing Saturday and Tuesday.
“It always happens this time of year because you are always catching up with games that have been called off. Playing Saturday and Tuesday should be fine.”
With just a few games of the season left to go and little to play for, Lewis and his Cirencester side will look to build some morale and gear themselves up for the following season.
