Rugby Town 1 Clevedon Town 3
On a crisp sunny autumn afternoon in Warwickshire Clevedon Town continued to be a bogey side for Rugby Town when they went through to the 2nd qualifying round of the FA Trophy with a 3-1 win at Butlin Road.
Phil Bater made one change to the winning line-up from Merthyr, giving Kevin Davies his first start in midfield in place of the cup-tied Mike Green. And it was Clevedon who immediately went on the offensive and in the second minute a pass from Craig Davidge reached Kyle Bassett on the left who shot from the edge of the box and scored when the ball went under the keeper. Things got even better for The Seasiders just five minutes later when Bassett returned the favour by finding Craig Davidge unmarked just outside the six yard box, and the on-loan forward made no mistake with a fierce shot inside the post to send the small army of travelling fans into ecstasy. However, after a couple more attempts at goal The Seasiders were then pegged back in their own half for the next 35 minutes as Rugby launched attack after attack to attempt to claw back the deficit. All the Rugby forwards looked very dangerous during this period, and there were many shots and crosses that were either just wide or high, or well saved by Danny Greaves, and on 35 minutes Scott Hendy had to clear off the line when Greaves was finally beaten. Clevedon tried to relieve the pressure and on a rare foray into Rugby territory had a chance to increase their lead on 40 minutes when a bullet cross from a tightly marked Mitchell Page at the corner flag found Craig Davidge who shot just wide under pressure from a defender. Unfortunately for The Seasiders the resultant goal kick made its way to Rugby’s David Stone on the left and the winger rounded Scott Hendy in the corner and cut in along the goal line to beat Danny Greaves with a fierce low drive to reduce the arrears for The Valley. Stone went close again two minutes later when Greavsie tipped his attempted lob over the bar, but the half-time whistle finally came for Clevedon to take sanctuary in the changing rooms for a while.
At the start of the second half Clevedon worked hard to re-establish their superiority with Bassett and Kris Leek both going close. On 55 minutes Clevedon made a double substitution with both golascorers being withdrawn (one injured, and one unwell) to be replaced by Mike Symons and Tyrone Toppar. And just five minutes later a cross from Tyrone was half cleared by the Rugby defence to Kevin Davies in the centre who beat the keeper with a perfectly placed lob from some 30 yards out to make his debut one to remember. That goal seemed to take the wind out of Rugby’s sails, although to their credit they never gave up trying and freshened things up with a couple of substitutions. On 71 minutes Clevedon made their own final substitution, as Chris Sylvester left the field and Geraint Bater was warmly welcomed back into competitive action by the travelling fans following his recent knee surgery. In the last 20 minutes both sides created some more half chances with Danny Greaves again called into action on a couple of occasions, and Mike Symons going very close in the 90th minute when he picked up a pass from Toppar in the area and turned and fired across the goal mouth, narrowly missing the far post. In the dying minutes Bates was booked for a mistimed tackle, but this was a very clean game played in an excellent spirit, and The Seasiders held on for a great 3-1 victory and a place in the 2nd qualifying round of the FA Trophy.
This was another great team performance by Clevedon Town, but my man of the match goes to captain Rob Scott who was a giant in defence all afternoon.
Team Sheet
| No: | Name: | Sub: | Goal: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greaves | ||
| 2 | Brigham | ||
| 3 | Haines | ||
| 4 | Davies | 1 | |
| 5 | Hendy | ||
| 6 | Scott (Capt) | ||
| 7 | Leek | ||
| 8 | Sylvester | ||
| 9 | Page | ||
| 10 | Davidge | 1 | |
| 11 | Bassett | 1 | |
| 12 | O'Connor | ||
| 14 | Symons | 10 | |
| 15 | Toppar | 11 | |
| 16 | Bater | 8 | |
| 17 | - | ||
| Own Goal | - |
Match Details
| Date: | 20/10/07 |
|---|---|
| Competition: | FA Trophy |
| Opponents: | Rugby Town |
| Venue: | Butlin Road Rugby Warwicks CV21 3ST |
| Half Time: | 2 - 1 |
| Full Time: | 3 - 1 |
| Attendance: | 169 |
| Match Report: | Dave Wright |
| Photographs: | - |
| Notes: |
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Downloads
| Appearances & Goal Scorers | Word Document |
|---|---|
| Team Sheet Matrix | Excel Document |