Table toppers Newbury Forest sealed a deserved win in the end – but Clapton CFC were left aggrieved when a controversial red card scuppered their second half fightback.
Newbury Forest were in control for the first half, though there were few chances at either end. Fred Taylor tested the Newbury Forest keeper with a first-time volley, while the home side’s first meaningful effort flew just over.
The game decisively swung in Newbury Forest’s favour late in the half. A misplaced back pass allowed their forward to finish calmly from an one-on-one. Just five minutes later, the hosts doubled their advantage, again exploiting defensive fragility and space behind the defence.
But Clapton came out for the second half with renewed intensity and were inches away from pulling one back almost immediately, hitting the post before the ball was scrambled clear.
The match then took a controversial turn when CCFC defender Sam Cook was knocked to the ground in an off-the-ball incident. The ref deemed it to be a coming together of equal blame and booked both players. That meant Cook was off as he’d been cautioned for a shirt pull in the first half. Our first sending-off of the season though it’s hard to see what Cook had done to merit that second yellow.
Clapton pushed on despite being down to ten men and a breakthrough finally arrived on 76 minutes. A mistimed punch from the Newbury Forest goalkeeper dropped kindly for Julian Austin, who reacted quickest to slot home.
At 2-1 CCFC went for broke, allowing the game to become an open, end-to-end basketball style contest. There was always likely to be another goal and so it proved, with Newbury Forest in fact scoring twice on the break in stoppage time.
Game over, although there was a positive moment in added time when substitute Andre Odeku scored in his first game back from three months’ out with injury. Odeku lifted the ball over the keeper and as it looped towards goal, a Newbury Forest defender could only help it over the line.