Three second half goals seal friendly win
Cirencester Town 0 Cheltenham Town 3Second half strikes from Zack Kotwica, Joe Hanks and Lee Vaughan earned Cheltenham Town a comfortable 3-0 victory in their opening pre-season friendly of the summer at Cirencester Town.
Boss Gary Johnson fielded 10 of his 11 summer signings in the first half before naming a totally different XI after the break.
Cheltenham dominated the first half, but they could not find a way past Cirencester goalkeeper Josh Langley, with Danny Wright missing the best chance.
There were some flowing moves, with full-backs Jack Barthram and George McLennan attacking effectively and Harry Pell showing his influence in the centre of the pitch.
Billy Waters played just behind strikers Wright and Amari Morgan-Smith in a 4-3-3 formation, with central defender Downes handed the armband.
Pell drew a save from Langley with a header from Waters' cross, Wright saw a shot blocked and Pell sent another header just wide, this time from Jack Munns' ball in.
Calum Kitscha replaced Dillon Phillips in goal for the start of the second half and the rest of the team was made up of survivors of last season's campaign, along with youth team graduate Adam Page and current Under-18s skipper Niall Rowe.
It took them seven minutes to prise Cirencester open when Kotwica exchanged passes with Harry Williams and slotted past Sam Hassan in the Centurions' goal.
Hanks fired in the second in the 79th minute after a corner routine and Vaughan, who is available for transfer, smashed in a left footed rocket in the 90th minute to complete the scoring, following a good advantage played by referee Mike Halford.
Cirencester Town (first half): Langley, Pitts, Dunton, Brown, Herring, Henry, Ricketts, Mortimer-Jones, Griffin, Parsons, Knight.
(second half): Hassan, Herring (Dunton 69), Lee, Henry, James, Jones, Ricketts (Lloyd 69), Hooper, Langworthy, Parsons, Bennett, Lloyd.
Cheltenham Town (first half): Phillips; Barthram, Downes, Parslow, McLennan; Storer, Munns, Pell; Waters, Wright, Morgan-Smith.
(second half): Kitscha; Vaughan, Deaman, Rowe, Bowen; Page, Hanks, Sterling-James; Kotwica, Williams, Dale.
Referee: Mike Halford.
Attendance: 393.