FC Clacton suffered their first league defeat of the season with a 0-2 reverse at the hands of Felixstowe & Walton. Felixstowe had already beaten FCC in the Ridgeon's Youth Cup and FCC were keen to extract revenge for that defeat.

The first half was a succession of chances for FCC with the first 30 minutes a procession toward the Felixstowe goal. Jake Clowsley, Luke Straight, Ollie Artis and Jack Bullock were all guilty of missing fairly comfortable chances that on another night would have sent the hosts in 4 or 5 up at the break. Instead of that, the final 15 minutes of the first period saw Felixstowe rally and they, themselves, should have scored a couple, but both good chances were spurned. So it was goalless at the break and I turned to one of my fellow spectators and said that I hoped that we would not regret all those missed chances. How prophetic these words were. A couple of half chances in the second period was as good as it got for FCC and it was only a matter of time before Felixstowe snatched the lead. Nathan Oakes in the home goal called for a high ball, but hopelessly misjudged the flight and was left in no man's land when the ball bounced and was calmly lifted over him into the unguarded net.

As FCC threw everyone forward in search of an equaliser, Felixstowe caught them on the break. An innocuous ball forward, needed a firm header from Ben Phillips to find his keeper. Unfortunately his weak header fell well short of it's intended target, leaving a Felixstowe forward through on goal. Oakes pulled of a fine smothering save, but the ball broke loose and was gleefully thumped home from a tight angle by the same forward.

This wasn't really a case of smash and grab by Felixstowe. They were not to blame for FCC missing a host of chances. They defended stoutly and eventually FCC resorted to smashing long balls in the hopes that Clowsley and Artis could use their pace to create something. Unfortunately this just played into Felixstowe's hands and they got their rewards from two defensive errors.

There were two absolutely nailed on penalties for FCC not given. Some you get, some you don't. On this occasion the only people in the ground who didn't think they were penalties were the ref and the nearest linesman. Oh well, there's always next week.