On a bright and sunny afternoon at the Rush Green Bowl Clacton and Heybridge fought out an entertaining but, ultimately, goalless draw. The Seasiders edged the first half whilst Heybridge had the better chances in the second half so a draw was a fair result as both teams continued tuning up their squads for the coming season.

A quiet opening to the game saw little in the way of chances for either side but in the last fifteen minutes of the half the game opened up as the two teams began to fashion opportunities.  It was Clacton who nearly took the lead when a neat move saw Tom Moore find Matt Waters whose low cross was touched off by Karl Andrade for Sean Hillier to smash home, only for the goal to be ruled out by the flag from of a clearly blind linesman (I’m only joking but it’s good to wind Nathan up!).

On thirty-seven minutes Heybridge created their best chance as Ashley Hawkins turned in the area and hit a low shot which Aaron Reid parried and the ball was hooked clear.

Just a minute later Clacton went up the other end to force a corner which saw Lee Peacock loop a header goalward, only to be denied by former Seasider Danny Barber, heading the ball away from under his own crossbar.

The final chance of the half saw visions reminiscent of two seasons ago as Sean Hillier clipped a ball into the left hand channel for Matt Waters to race onto but this time the winger curled his effort just wide.

The second half saw a revolving door installed at the side of the pitch with both managers ringing the changes with numerous substitutions throughout the half.

Midway through the half another former Seasider threatened the home defence as Ricky Griggs was put clear on the right and his dangerous low cross was cleared by Lee Peacock.  Then with fifteen minutes left the visitors could have taken the lead as Joe Martin, who had an otherwise assured match, could not quite clear inside the area and Griggs nipped in to drive a left footed effort against the post. Heybridge’s dismay was compounded as the ball out to a black and white shirt but Luke Callander’s effort was ballooned over the bar from close range.

With ten minutes left Clacton nearly nicked it as substitute Josh Grimes cut inside to fire a rising effort that just clipped the right hand post. With five minutes left Ashley Boyce crashed a shot against Paul Churchlow’s crossbar as it became clear that the ball was destined not to go in for either side.

So a draw, a good result and a good start to Andy Taylor’s time as FCC manager. Next up for Clacton is Sudbury on Tuesday whilst Heybridge will come up against some very familiar faces to Clacton fans as they take on Stanway Rovers - we of course wish them all the best for that fixture!