Clacton 3 Chelmsford IV 2

Division 4SE

Clacton 3 Chelmsford IV 2

CLACTON made hard work of this home victory having built up a two goal half-time lead.

The Seasiders started slowly as the visitors made the early threats on goal, with Clacton keeper Mike Key saving superbly from a great short corner strike.

Colin Hook and Alex Mortimer returned to the back line to give a familiar look to the Seasiders' defence, with Nick Key and Gavin Underhay providing the final pieces of the Clacton defensive wall.

In midfield, James Mead, Jamie Roberts, and Carl Parkes got the better of their counter parts, feeding Denzil Donovan, Sam Hodge, and Rik Coleman, with Francis Sanderson providing a valuable supporting role from the bench.

It was Clacton's talisman Coleman that opened the scoring as the visitors failed to tidy up a home attack. Shortly afterwards Hodge doubled the lead when he was on hand to react and deflect the ball into the goal from a Roberts pass.

The visitors kept pushing forwards and got their reward making the scoreline 2-1, but with seconds to go in the first half Parkes drove in a cross that met the run of Hodge, who deftly applied the touch to direct the ball into the bottom corner to restore the two goal lead at 3-1.

The second half saw Ryan Nippress enter the game with another solid performance at the back, and as Clacton struggled to find the same fluidity in their passes the Seasiders put themselves under more and more pressure.

This gave the visitors the boast and encouragement they needed to step up their game and reduce the score line to 3-2.

However, they found veteran keeper Key in fine fettle, in one of his busiest games of the season, making numerous saves to keep out the visitors' equaliser and fully deserving the man-of-the-match award.

Next week Clacton travel to Havering looking to keep to extend their unbeaten run of nine games.