GIORGIO Rigali described Goatacre’s performance in their eight-wicket dissection of Thornbury at the weekend as “the perfect display”.

Rigali took two wickets as the hosts restricted Premier Two’s second-placed side to 214 from exactly 50 overs, before watching on from the pavilion as Ed Kilbee hit 96 not out and Ed Wilkins an unbeaten 68 to help Goatacre romp home with almost 11 overs to spare.

The paceman was delighted by the result, which lifts the Goats into sixth place in the league table, just 29 points off a promotion spots.

“We’re a very happy bunch at the moment,” he said. “It was the perfect display on Saturday. Everyone contributed and we knocked off a decent score – not a big score – for the loss of two wickets.

“We got big points and we’re brimming with confidence.

“Hopefully the momentum keeps going, we keep on picking up more and more points and you never know what can happen in that league.

“We’re optimistic and we’re realistic as well, so we’re not necessarily talking about promotion, but there aren’t that many points between us and second.

“You never know what can happen if you can string four or five wins together.”

Up until the home clash with Cheltenham on June 22, Goatacre had managed just two league victories in seven attempts.

Since then, they have only lost one in four and a relegation battle is quickly becoming a last-gasp sprint for promotion. Rigali said: “It’s hard to put your finger on why it’s happened.

“I don’t know whether it’s the fact that new players coming into the team have taken some time to gel or what, but the atmosphere is really good in the dressing room at the moment.

“Everyone is looking out for each other and we’re all really looking forward to playing cricket on a Saturday.”

On his own game, he said: “I’m bowling well.

“It makes a big difference fitting into the team, maybe at the start of the season I was trying to bowl for my place in the team and trying to impress.

“Perhaps I tried a bit too hard earlier in the season, I’m a lot more relaxed now. There are a lot of good bowlers in that team that I have taken advice from – Kevin Iles and Gibbo (Craig Gibbens) have been good to me.

“I’m a lot happier now with the ball, I feel that I am bowling well and I feel that I am contributing to a being a big part in the team now.”

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