Hellenic Premier
Fairford Town 2
Brimscombe & Thrupp 7
BEREFT of 10 first team players, Fairford Town went down to a 7-2 home defeat to Brimscombe & Thrupp on Wednesday evening, writes Chris Tanner.

With Aaron Dainton, Nathan Gambling, David Hemmings, Josh Morse, Ben Newman, Lewis Petrie, Jamie Reid, Dan Reynolds, George Thrussell and Lyndon Tomkins all ruled out through injury or unavailability – it was a threadbare squad that lined up for this Hellenic Premier Division contest.

Brimscombe took full advantage with a polished performance with striker Ollie Pitt, formerly of Cirencester Town, leading the way with a lively display.

The visitors made a quickfire start as the home side yet again conceded early, with a superb free-kick from top scorer Pitt breaking the deadlock after six minutes.

David Woodfield doubled the advantage five minutes later with a powerful back post header before the hosts could gather themselves.

Steve Hall’s inch-perfect cross was headed home by Fairford's Lee Smith with 23 minutes played and at 2-1 it looked like the home side would get back into the game.

However, when Pitt tucked away a penalty on the half-hour the points were set to head back to The Meadow.

Karl Nash powered home a fourth on the hour, and Jack Smith headed home a corner with 74 on the clock.

Liam Gale pressured visiting defender Kyle Pitts into bundling the ball into his own net three minutes later to make it 5-2, with Jack Smith netting his second of the night for the visitors soon after.

The scoring was rounded off with an 85th minute own goal as the hosts played out the closing stages with 10 men as striker James Campbell was forced off injured.

A night to forget for the hosts who will have to gather themselves ahead of Saturday’s league visit of fellow strugglers Ascot United.

Fairford Town; Langley; M Hall, S Gale (Bevan), Barstow, Saunders (C Smith); L Gale, Boucher, Oakes, S Hall; Campbell, L Smith.