In the end it was a deserved first victory of the season for Hutton with three goals in a nightmare seven minute spell in the second half.

However, goals change games and the first on 16 minutes was hugely controversial. With Hutton on the ball approaching our box, a second ball entered the field from a neighbouring pitch and landed a few yards away.

With confusion about which of the balls to play, Clapton defender Junia Charlton played one ball and the Hutton attacker the other. That ball was passed into the box where it was squeezed past stand-in keeper Chris Mathers by Adam Vyse.

It hadn’t been an ideal build-up, with Geoff Ocran having to make a raft of changes including four of the back five, while many players were late due to traffic delays caused by a crash.

Shortly after going 1-0 down, Andre Odeku had a shot saved and saw another hit the side netting, while a penalty appeal was waved away after Hutton’s Oliver Jenkins handled a cross in the box, either unseen or deemed accidental.

But the second half performance was a disappointment, with Hutton going close to a second on several occasions before it finally came on 64 minutes when a corner found Jenkins at the back post. With no Clapton player near enough, he only needed to let it bounce off him from a few yards out.

In a poor spell, Clapton conceded once again on 69 minutes, when Joel Akuwudike slipped in the area and the loose ball was tapped home by Chukwuka Esaka. A fourth Hutton goal came just two minutes later, with Shaun Dibbousi finding the bottom corner from 20 yards out.

On 77 minutes, Odeku grabbed his fourth goal in four successive games, slotting in from outside the box. Clapton pressed for another, but the clocked ticked down and an unlikely comeback did not materialise.

There was time for late drama in added time, though. Sub Nico Bunduku was kicked in the area, and in the resulting melee Hutton’s Billy Freeman and Clapton’s Tiere Beaupierre and Rafael Da Mata were all shown the red card.

From the resulting free-kick, Flavien Stierlen got his head on it to reduce the deficit from a few yards out but sadly it was too little too late.

Highlights

Interview

Photos