Main Menu

Clamp double eases Town to victory

Coalville Town 2nd XI  4  South Nottingham 2nd XI  1

BodyKraft 2nd XI East Midlands Premier Division

Despite an enforced weekend off, Town's 2nd X1 came back to turn in a creditable display to dispatch a willing, but lacking in ideas, South Nottingham team to make it three wins in a row. 

Although the score line emphasised a good win against a team at the bottom end of the table, they made hard work of the win and only made the game safe in the last 10 minutes. Town opened at a scorching pace making easy work of the opening play however an early chance for Scott Meadows saw his strike go wide of the opposition goal. 

Town packed their midfield with a combination of attacking and holding players as Tony Crowie, Richard Wright and Brent Clamp took the early play to the visitors, however when necessary, the positioning and hold from Darren Conway steadied the ship as South Nottingham tried to break out. 

With Stuart Jobburn adding the extra bite between defence and attack, it wasn't long before Town took a deserved lead. From a succession of Town forward play, the ball was slipped out to Meadows on the right, whose run into the dee saw him square the ball to Niki Arnold who had no problem in scoring his fourth league goal of the season.

 Town were really playing some great stuff, passing the ball around with ease against a team who couldn't find any answer to their play and it wasn't long before the chances came, however Meadows, Arnold and Clamp all had shots saved by a visiting keeper in good form. 

At the other end, little was getting past Conway and Jobburn in midfield, who were covering the ground between the Town 22 metre line and half way, but when it did, Marshall had no difficulty clearing up from the back. With Ian Wright covering the visitors right flank and Steve Partner the left, any break from South Nottingham was easily cut out, and for good measure, Partner was the spring board for many attacks as Meadows started to cause havoc with the opposition defence. 

With all the pressure, it was no surprise that Town went two up after 27 minutes, and what a goal it was. Crowie picked up the ball inside his own half from a fine pass out of defence, and ran through the visitor's midfield as though it wasn't there. Riding endless tackles as he went, he delivered a pinpoint pass to Clamp moving into the dee from the left and his superb ball control allowed him some extra time as he picked his spot for a decisive score. 

Town turned around well in command and they came out for the second half to continue their onslaught. As Town went forward, with most of the attacks coming down the right from the Partner, Crowie, Richard Wright and Meadows combination, chances went begging as the visitors defence grimly held out, and when it seemed only a matter of time before the third goal came, Town succumbed, and not for the first time this season, to the ultimate sucker punch. 

From one of their many raids on goal, Town lost control of the ball as the visitors broke quickly out of defence. The usually reliable Jobburn and Marshall missed crucial tackles allowing the visitors to pull one back after 39 minutes. 

At this point, Town seemed to go to pieces and their attacking play fell apart, as passes went astray, and it was the visitors who began to hold the upper hand as they put together some good play in and around the Town half and Barker had to make some timely saves to keep them out. 

Up front, Arnold was having a tough time against a powerful centre half, however he was working hard to hang onto the ball trying to bring Town back into the game. After enduring some close shaves, it was Town's turn to deliver the sucker punch as they broke away to deliver a telling blow on their opponents with only 7 minutes to play. The ball found it's way into the opponents dee and following a huge scramble in front of goal, Crowie squared the ball across to Clamp to slot home his second of the match. 

This seemed to knock the fight out of the visitors and it was no surprise when, following some enterprising play by Clamp, he slipped the ball through to Meadows who made no mistake with the fourth goal to kill off the game. 

An easy win on the score sheet but Town made hard work of the game in the second half. However it was good to see that they can come back when put under pressure and kill off the opposition, and that they can keep going right to the end to make it happen.