Saturday 1^st November 2008

BLOATERS 1, FC CLACTON 0

Bloaters – 1 Elliot Pride, 2 Adam Sewell, 3 Ollie Savage, 4 Gareth Palmer, 5 Adrian Ager, 6 Alan Darby, 7 Chris Squire, 8 Adam Sullivan (c), 9 Stewart Roach, 10 Jake Reed, 11 Scott Woodcock. Subs: 12 Toby Gorbould, 14 Dominic Smith, 15 Liam Bartley, 16 Johnny Watt, 17 Michael Hilton.

Clacton – Jamie Firth, 2 Gareth Gibson, 3 Andrew Taylor, 4 Chris Ribchester, 5 Greg Heighway (c), 6 Danny Smith, 7 Liam Springett, 8 Lee Barrett, 9 Steve Oldhamstead, 10 James Dunkley, 11 David Auger. Subs: 12 Mitchell Springett, 14 David Coyle, 15 John Reeves.

Referee – Euan Goodman

Clacton kicked off on a grey and gloomy afternoon with such a player shortage that they had 44-year old ex-Seasider Mitchell Springett, signed ten minutes before the 11am deadline, on the bench. Yarmouth were almost at full strength.

It was the Seasiders who had the first attempt on goal when a Liam Springett free-kick flashed wide in the third minute. After this Yarmouth, backed by their vociferous band of young supporters, came into the game and both sides battled hard, as much to cope with the lashing rain and strong wind, as with each other. On eight minutes, a Sewell long throw into the box was flicked on by Roach but Firth saved.

After eleven minutes, a good run by Reed set up Sullivan who turned on the edge of the area but saw his shot blocked. A 14^th minute clash of heads in the Yarmouth goal area between Ager and Auger resulted in both trainers being required. Three minutes later, good work by Clacton created a corner which caused problems before Pride caught it on the goal-line.

A quarter of the way through the game Yarmouth had their first serious attempt on goal as a drag back and turn by Sullivan lead to a powerful shot which caused the Clacton 'keeper to tip over the Yarmouth captain’s twenty yard shot.

On thirty minutes came the Bloaters' best chance of the half as Clacton failed to clear a ball into the box and it fell to Scott Woodcock with a clear sight of goal. However the Bloaters’ winger was unable to find the target, firing just over from 15 yards. 

The 39^th minute brought the first substitution of the game: this resulted from the clash of heads earlier and saw Yarmouth’s Ager replaced by Smith. The fairly uneventful half ended with Roach turning neatly in the box but shooting over.

HT 0-0

It was Clacton who started the faster in the second half and in the 47^th minute the visitors missed a glorious chance to take the lead. Some good interplay in the midfield, allied to a deflection, led to Barrett charging into the Yarmouth area with just the 'keeper to beat. Fortunately for the Bloaters, Barrett could not find the target, driving his left-footed effort wide.

A period of nondescript play ensued when the only events of note were three substitutions. Yarmouth replaced Watt for Sewell after 55 minutes, Clacton brought on Springett for Smith after 60 minutes, and then Yarmouth made their final change when Bartley appeared in place of Woodcock in the 62^nd minute.

Play then livened up immediately following the substitutions, and a long throw by Roach caused problems before Clacton skipper, Heighway headed out for a corner after some indecision by the Clacton 'keeper who atoned with a fine save from the resulting corner, which again led to a corner, this being cleared comfortably.

On 66 minutes, Pride was forced into a fine save, pushing over a strong free kick from 30 yards out to the left of his goal. From the resulting corner Clacton forced the ball over the line but three were offside, due to Yarmouth moving out quickly. On seventy minutes an ambitious, but dipping, 40-yard Liam Springett free kick was just touched over by Pride in the Yarmouth goal, and two minutes later a 20-yard effort produced a similar save at the other end from Finch.

With the game entering the last quarter of an hour a James Dunkley free-kick appeared to strike the bottom of the post with the follow up effort well smothered by Pride. Then Oldhamstead, who had toiled nobly as a lone striker, had a sight of goal but could only skew his left-foot shot wide.

At this point Clacton’s efforts began to catch up with them as Yarmouth piled the pressure on in search of the winning goal. With five minutes to go it looked as though they may have missed their best chance to find it as a long Roach free kick into the box travelled all the way to the far post to an unmarked Reed who could only power his header wide.

However in the 88^th minute, just when it looked like the Seasiders would hang on for their first draw of the campaign, the Bloaters did achieve their goal. Stand-in Clacton captain Heighway, who until that point had not put a foot wrong, failed to clear with a long ball forward only managing to loop a header into the air. As it dropped again the Clacton man could only glance the ball across his own area and into the path of young Jake Reed who gratefully prodded home his first senior goal from five-yards to send the Bloaters fans into raptures.

Clacton attacked again but apart from one long throw, which caused a bit of panic before Roach cleared, the Bloaters held on to preserve their 100% league home record and consign Clacton to a miserable journey back to Essex.

Attendance - 70