A first home victory of the season saw FC Clacton advance to the second qualifying round of the FA Vase as they battled past Ely City 2-1 at the Rush Green Bowl. A match in which the quality did not always match the endeavour on show still saw three high class goals with Matt Waters, Kevin Coyle and Josh Bridgeman all producing moments to remember.

Ely had started the better of the two sides initially and very nearly took the lead in the sixth minute when a pull back from the left hand side saw Matt Cripps have to divert the shot away on his own goal line. Ely went close again with just over ten minutes on the clock as Bridgeman fired a low shot just wide of Joe Playle’s goal.

Clacton’s first, and best, opportunity of the first half came with nearly twenty minutes played when Karl Andrade was put clear but seemingly undecided whether to attempt to round the keeper or shoot he could only scuff his effort under pressure from the advancing Lee Pacey. Even then the ball nearly went in as it trickled goalward and was not cleared by Adam Dalby, whose almost total air shot only just did enough to stop the ball from crossing the line allowing him to clear at the second attempt.

Both sides went close to scoring before the interval as ten minutes before half time a high ball into the area was not dealt with and Cripps again did well to get across and block Tom Beeches effort away for a corner.  Two minutes later Coyle nearly gave Clacton the interval advantage as he latched on to a bouncing ball on the left corner of the area and floated a lob that Pacey did brilliantly to divert over the bar as he flung himself backwards at full stretch.

It was Ely who had the first attempt of the second half as winger Luke Parkinson advance to fire a low shot that whizzed across Playle’s goal and wide of his left hand upright.

But it was Clacton who opened the scoring with a quarter of the game remaining. Sean Hillier was fouled on the left hand side of the area around twenty yards out. As Matt Waters stepped up to strike the free kick Pacey, anticipating a shot over the wall took a step to his right. However Waters cleverly went the other way curling a low effort around the wall to Pacey’s left and the goalkeeper, already unsighted as he moved behind the wall, was unable to switch his momentum back as the ball curled perfectly into the side netting to give Clacton the lead.

As the game approached its final stages Clacton began to retreat worryingly ever further back as they looked to protect their slender advantage. However this only gave Ely, not shy of throwing a high ball forward already, the opportunity to submit the Clacton backline to an aerial bombardment which, to their credit, they for the most part withstood as players battled to head clear or put their bodies in the way of the ball.

But as Ely committed themselves forward this did lead to opportunities for Clacton to hit them on the break. Karl Andrade nearly profited from a defensive error which allowed him to get in on the right but he could only fire high and wide. But with just three minutes to go Josh Grimes, just on as a substitute, did well to block a clearance on the halfway line, carried the ball forward before calmly squaring to Kevin Coyle racing up to support. The Clacton skipper took a touch, looked up and coolly flighted a delicate twenty yard chip over Pacey to double Clacton’s advantage.

Just as Clacton fans were relaxing and with the next round in sight there was still time for a late scare as, with a minute of normal time left, another long ball was not cleared and as it dropped on the edge of the box Bridgeman thundered a powerful volley past Playle to give the visitors a lifeline.

Despite an injury time siege to their area Clacton doggedly repelled all further attacks to book their place in the next round.