Match report by Obi Lazarus as the Men’s First Team open their first season in the Southern Counties East Football League with a win against Greenways… despite a late scare.
In the first game of the new season, Clapton CFC Men’s First Team defeated Greenways 1-0 in a nail-biting fixture at the Old Spotted Dog. Though the game was a clean slate for Clapton, premiering in the Southern Counties East Football League (SCEFL) for the first time after moving sideways from the Eastern Counties League last season, the game was anything but clean with the referee dishing out six yellow cards (two of which for Clapton) and a single red. Fred Taylor scored the only goal of the game after capitalising on an (admittedly) scuffed shot across goal by Cameron Gordon. The other big moment of the game came when Jamie Kelly, Greenways’ goalkeeper, saw red after bringing Gordon down well outside of the area in a last-ditch, blatant attempt to stop what would have been an almost certain goal.
As is expected of any opening league fixture, the game got off to a scrappy start, with both sides unable to slow the game down and take control. This did not last for long, though, as the home side soon found their usual rhythm creating numerous opportunities down the right hand side and generating dangerous chances, including one penalty appeal after Julian Austin was intentionally shoved in the back – the ref waved play on. Noah Adejokun came the closest to opening the scoring in the fifteenth minute of the game. A free-kick, courtesy of Joel Akuwudike, was left floating in the air forcing a bizarre clearance off the line that only made it as far as Adejokun, who could not find the back of the net with the follow up hitting the side netting. This goalmouth frenzy seemed to wake up the crowd, who had been gently thawing out of their off-season slumber.
The first yellow of the game was awarded to Greenways’ Levi Gold after a rash challenge on Junia Charlton. Gold was not to feel lonely in the official’s book, however, as he was soon joined by teammate Lewis Cook and Clapton’s Dean Bouho just before the half-time whistle.
Perhaps inspired by a half-time team talk, Greenways started the second half better than they had finished the first, with winger Ashley Poppy whipping in a pair of inswinging corners that almost hit the mark. However, this newfound danger was short-lived. After Bailey Pryce won a convincing header in his own area and charged the ball up the pitch, Clapton launched a counter-attack which finished with Akuwudike thwacking the crossbar. It seemed like a goal was forthcoming, and not even a minute later it did. Playing off of a through ball, Cameron Gordon set it across for Fred Taylor who beat the keeper to the ball and stroked it into the net. Though no one would have questioned him if he did not say it himself, Gordon later admitted that it was actually a scuffed shot:
“Not gonna lie, it was a shot across the goal. Probably scuffed it a little bit but good for Fred to be gambling on that, [it is] probably something we didn’t have in the first half, [gambling] to capitalise at the back post and grab a goal or two.”
Gordon also showed some love to teammate Taylor, whose goal marked a personal milestone in his Clapton career: “Thankfully Fred was there to tap it in and get his 50th goal for Clapton. That’s massive for him.”
Greenways’ fate was sealed just 5 minutes later. In no man’s land, ten yards outside of his own box, Jamie Kelly left a clumsy leg out to bring Gordon to the floor, despite the striker’s attempt to stay on his feet. Being the last man, the red was a surprise to absolutely no one in the ground – not even Kelly himself. With no goalkeeper on the bench, Greenways were forced to send one of their outfield players in between the sticks to which he did not look the slightest bit pleased.
Though the chances were plentiful for the home side, racking up shots on target and free-kicks, the score remained the same. It is a common saying in football that the scoreline is the only statistic that matters. Though, for the groundskeepers, the seven lost balls may take precedent. Another impressive statistic was the seven cards handed out by the trigger-happy referee who did not give any leeway for the season’s opener. Though both sides saw the inside of the book, it was Greenways that seemed to cause the majority of the problems with around half of their starting XI being booked.
“They could have had about two or three sending offs in the game,” Gordon told me. “They kicked us and tried to impose themselves on us and I think we dealt with that pretty well.”
Ross Broadway had a dominant league debut for Clapton in the middle of the park, being the side’s only veteran of the SCEFL having previously spent three years at Tooting Bec. Broadway almost scored an impressive volley following a headed clearance (video below) and his all round performance earned the number six Assistant Manager Sham Darr’s Player of the Match.
Broadway said: “It’s been a really intense pre-season and we have played some tough teams. I have the advantage of having played in this league before and so I kind of knew what they were going to be like a little bit which helped me to be confident at the start of the game. [We] just went for it and, yeah, brilliant to be able to do that in the first game in front of everyone. Amazing day.”
“It’s a very funny league and a lot changes throughout the season. Not everyone gets off to the best start. We obviously have a very large and high quality group so, you know, one game at a time and we’ll know more [in] November or December.”
Next week, Saturday, August 10, Clapton CFC Men’s Team will host Faversham Strike Force as they aim to build on an impressive start in a new division. Attendance for the game was recorded at 302. A good start to what looks to be a very exciting season.
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