Clacton 3 Waltham Forest 2

Division 3SE

Clacton 3 Waltham Forest 2

Clacton made the most of their chances to defeat a volatile Waltham Forest side at the weekend and go six points clear of their visitors.

Once again Clacton started on fire, scoring from the first short corner of the game when Sam Hodge was on hand to push home after Dan Hunn's deflected effort had been saved.

The Seasiders had great possession in midfield through Jamie Roberts, Tom Blake, Steve Key, and Tom Jones, while up front, Ric Coleman, Hodge, and Danny Clow were causing mayhem. Clacton got plenty of short corners in the first half, but just failed to get the ball over the line with the visitors defence blocking, diving, and scuffling the ball clear on numerous occasions. At the back John Hambrook, Gavin Underhay, Neil Hurrell held the visitors out with good, confident defending with Carl Parkes and Mike Key tidying up behind.

The second half saw Clacton start a bit on the back foot, but just as the visitors would have thought they were getting back into the game Hodge stepped up with a goal at a crucial moment. Steven Key drove down the right before finding Coleman who drew the defence before slotting in Hodge wide on the left. Hodge neatly struck the ball so that it missed the keeper and nestled gloriously in the corner for 2-0.

The visitors came back strongly and for a period they concentrated on playing hockey and caused Clacton some problems, scoring a nicely worked goal for 2-1. The Seasiders continued to soak up the game with composed possession though and midway through the second half Clacton got their only short corner of the half. From it they made no mistake with man-of-the-match Jones slotting in the deflection for his first goal of the season and a score line of 3-1.

The visitors didn't give up the fight and with six minutes to go got back to 3-2, however Clacton had the calmness and confidence to see out the final few minutes while the opponents frustrations once again surfaced and stopped them concentrating.

This result puts Clacton in fourth spot, six points clear of fifth and now only four points behind next weeks opponents Braintree who suffered a thumping 10-0 loss to Wapping. With two games left Clacton are still looking up the table rather than over their shoulders.