Bizarre umpiring

Clacton 1st XI 3 Upminster 2nd XI 1

Division 3 South East

CLACTON got the points on the board to go with the performance in a game that will be remembered for some bizarre umpiring.

The Seasiders got their noses in front when Captain Carl Parkes was in the right place to scramble the ball home midway through the first half. Clacton controlled much of the first half, but without adding to the score line. Up front Rik Coleman, Sam Hodge, Alex Mortimer and Rob Lukey pressurised the visitors defence. In defence Nick Key, Gavin Underhay, Colin Hook, and John Hambrook protected Mike Key allowing few chances for the visitors.

Clacton came out flying for the second half and doubled their lead when Daniel Hunn fired home from a short corner in the first minute of the restart. The visitors battled back and got themselves back in the game scoring from a nicely worked short corner for 2-1.

Then in the space of six minutes the game saw four yellow cards and a red card. With the sides now both down to nine the Seasiders gathered themselves and kept control of the ball with Hodge controlling the game. When Hodge ran the ball down the line Mortimer provided the overlap before finding Lukey who laid in Hodge and Coleman forcing the defence into some desperate defending resulting in a penalty. Coleman stepped up to put the points in the bag at 3-1 for a deserved win.