The Prelude

Before a report of the game itself there was drama on the way to the match as Clacton were caught up in what the ever-efficient Yarmouth matchday announcer very kindly called “traffic congestion on the A12 following an accident”. The reality was that Baz, whilst giving a lift to three players, had managed to career his car into a traffic island getting two flat tyres and leaving them stranded 30 minutes from the ground. Reports that Baz was distracted by trying to encourage Kevin Coyle, Liam Whittaker and Lee Peacock into a round of “Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside” are, as yet, unconfirmed.

With Danny Coyle dispatched on a fairy godmother-esque rescue mission from Yarmouth to make sure that the players would go to the game help was closer at hand than was first realised. A passing Dagenham Dave, on his way to the match, spotted the stricken Baz and pulled over allowing the three players to jump in the Daggers-mobile and get a lift to the match, leaving Baz to wait for the RAC man to come and fix his tyres.

Fortunately for Baz your erstwhile match reporter was also at roadside to chronicle the moment when the RAC van turned up and the mechanic took one look and said “Let me guess, you drove into the traffic island? Yeah, you’re not the first idiot to do that.” (Admittedly, he may not have actually used the word “idiot” but I’m pretty sure he meant to).

With that Danny Coyle arrived and I was whisked away to the ground, my last sighting of Baz being him at the roadside doing a little jig, clapping his hands with glee singing, “fee-diddly-dee, no match report for me”.

Honestly, the length some people will go to eh?

The Match

Having arrived at the ground at 3:05 we found that the kick off had been delayed by fifteen minutes. Excellent news for me but not much use to the FCC players as their practice balls, which had also been in Baz’s car, arrived at the same time that I did, leaving no time for a proper warm up.

However by the end of 90 minutes the imperfect preparation was forgotten as Clacton eased to a 3-0 win over their deflated hosts thanks to two goals from Sean Hillier, a third from Lee Barrett allied with a late penalty save by Joe Playle.

The far from perfect build up did appear to show early on as Clacton looked rusty and Yarmouth were quicker on the ball. After nine minutes a long ball over the top saw Glen Spooner outpace Tom Austin to latch onto the loose ball, but he was denied by the feet of Playle.

Then after fifteen minutes the Seasiders survived a good shout for a penalty when a Lee Peacock handball was judged to be outside the area when it looked a mighty close call on whether it hit him inside or outside of the box.

After their shaky start Clacton began to settle and get a grip in midfield. This allowed them to string a few passes together and play some good build up play that led to three chances in ten minutes midway through the half. First Liam Whittaker saw a close range effort blocked by a defender, then after neat interplay between Kevin Coyle, Whittaker and Sean Hillier, Karl Andrade was played in but his shot across the face of goal just clipped the outside of the post. Finally a good Hillier pass set Coyle through but, as he rounded the goalkeeper his touch was just too heavy and the recovering defenders were able to smother his effort.

However Clacton did take the lead on thirty four minutes when Coyle carried the ball a long way from right to left, fed Andrade who crossed low for Hillier to control and fire home left footed and put a severe puncture in Yarmouth’s hopes.

Yarmouth hit back and nearly got an equaliser two minutes later. Spooner collected the ball in the box and curled a low effort that crashed against Playle’s right hand post and somehow stayed out, spinning right across the goal line, past the far upright and out for a goal kick.

Five minutes before half-time Yarmouth were indebted to keeper Jake Jessop for keeping out a firm header from Joe Martin, the keeper jacking himself up and to his right to claw away the midfielder’s effort.

Had Yarmouth’s effort that hit the post gone in the momentum of the game may have been altered but with the Clacton lead intact, the second half was quieter. The Seasiders increasingly controlled the game, ensuring any Yarmouth attacks would breakdown before they got near goal, with Joe Martin in particular having an impressive game patrolling the midfield. The visitors increased their lead on fifty-eight minutes when the referee, who along with his assistants had a very good afternoon, played an excellent advantage following a foul on Coyle by the right touchline. This allowed him to advance and pick a lovely cross, just evading two defenders to find Hillier unmarked at the far post and he made no mistake heading home before wheeling away in celebration.

Hillier could have had his hat-trick with ten minutes to go when he went on a jinking run into the area beating three men. However with the hard work seeming to be done and with sight of goal fifteen yards out he could not find the finish lifting his effort over the bar.

With four minutes remaining Yarmouth had the opportunity to set up a tense finale when Matt Cripps handled a cross from the right to give the home team a penalty. The penalty however was symptomatic of Yarmouth’s day as Scott Woodcock’s weak spot kick was easily saved by Playle diving low to his left.

As both team tired there was just time for a final flourish as in the 90^th minute Lee Peacock advanced on the right and swept a cross field pass out to Lee Barrett in acres of space in the penalty area. The substitute made no mistake, slotting home to set the seal on a comfortable victory.  

There was just time before the final whistle for Liam Condon to make his first team debut coming off the bench to replace Hillier.

All in all a very good victory and a strong team performance, Beaver and Oompah will be pleased to get the first win of the season under our belts. Next up in the cup is a trip to Leiston on 3^rd September where the Seasider’s will aim to pull off a giant killing against last year’s Premier Division champions.