A BUMPER crowd of more than 500 saw Cinderford Town come back from 2-0 down to win their inaugural Hellenic Premier game against Lydney Town.

Four second half goals for the visitors turned the game decisively.

Lydney were in control for the first half hour after two goals from Lewis Thompson had given them a comfortable lead.

Cinderford began to get a foot into the match before the break and finished the half on top.

Thompson opened the scoring after only three minutes.

Great work down the left by Tristan Murphy saw his cross superbly headed home by Town’s centre forward.

Thompson, and a rejuvenated Declan Morley-Lyne were giving the Cinderford defence plenty to think about and when Thompson was brought down in the box by Ben Vine on 18 minutes the referee pointed to the spot.

Thompson sent James Smallcombe the wrong way with the kick and Lydney were two up. Morley-Lyne went close with a header before the game was held up for an injury to Cinderford keeper Smallcombe, who was replaced at the break by 17-yearold defender Harry Knight.

Cinderford to their credit refused to be rattled and gradually started to push forward, finishing the half on top.

The third goal of the contest was crucial, and it came immediately after the restart scored by the visitors. A harmless looking cross from the left was spilled in a challenge by Lydney keeper Elliott Jones and Luke Firkin was on hand to tap home.

The game started to resemble a local derby now and Frankie Johnson was shown a yellow card for one robust tackle to many. Lydney’s Lucas Vaughan finally gave way to a groin strain and was replaced by Aston Jeffs.

Cinderford’s pressure paid off on 70 minutes and they were level. A deep cross from the left was headed down by Fin Jones and captain Dan Barnard tapped in from the goaline.

In their second game in three days the Lydney legs were gone now and Cinderford could sense it. Their stand out player was defender Vine, who apart from his penalty blip was superb throughout. Stong in the air and on the ground with an electric burst of pace.

Another attack on 78 minutes saw Cinderford go in front for the first time. A break down the right saw the ball flashed across goal where Charlie Davies controlled and stroked home from close range.

Thompson was replaced by Steve Clarke but two minutes later the game was over. Lydney keeper Jones with the ball at his feet, took too long in possession and his kick out was blocked by Ethan Hayes who saw the ball rebound into an empty net.

Lydney sent on Jarred Liddington and Amadou Lo for Dark and Guest as Cinderford started to run the clock down. Lydney did manage a couple of good chances very late on when first a good move down the right side saw the ball played in for Aston Jeffs who failed to get a clean strike away.

Then a minute later Clarke was clean through but checked back and the chance was snuffed out.

On balance it was an entertaining game by two sides who won’t be challenging for the title this season. Lydney certainly were not helped having played on the previous Saturday, while Cinderford stuck to their task and eventually wore the home side down.

Cinderford manager Matt Driscoll praised his side’s second half performance while acknowledging the deficiencies in the opening 45.

He said: “The first half we didn’t show up – two sloppy goals, we shouldn’t have been in that position.

“The last couple of games we’ve been really good, today I think the occasion got to them in the first half.

“The second half we showed what we can do.

“We had to replace our keeper and (Harry) stepped up and kept a clean sheet.”