Clevedon welcomed Buckland Athletic to The Everyone Active Stadium on Saturday and the visitors went back to Devon with all three points with a 1-0 victory.
Clevedon created the first chance on three minutes when Liam Dempsey was fouled as he cut in from the left. Alex Russell took the free-kick and curled the ball towards the near post where Buckland keeper Kenny Griffiths gathered low down.
In the ninth minute, Glen Hayer won the ball back near the corner flag on the right and his long ball was collected by Lucas Vowles who was bearing down on goal when an excellent tackle by Kai Fisher won the ball and cleared the danger.
Buckland took the lead on 13 minutes. A good run down the left by Dan Griffiths saw the ball squared to Craig Duff whose 25 yard shot went in off the post to give Damien Freeman no chance.
Clevedon had a great chance to get back on level terms two minutes later when a Liam Dempsey run and shot saw the ball spilled by Kenny Griffiths and with Morgan Williams the quickest to react, the youngster attempted to lift the ball over the keeper who redeemed himself by deflecting the ball over the bar.
A good passing move in the 30th minute saw the home side go close. Dempsey made progress down the left before finding Vowles who in turn found Morgan Williams and he played it into the box for Tyler Ashmead to see his shot blocked. The rebound was picked up by Tyler on the right of the six-yard box and he curled the ball to the far post were skipper Clayton Fortune sent his header wide.
The last action of the half in the first minute of stoppage time saw Clevedon win a free-kick on the edge of the box.
Fortune stepped up and curled the ball over the wall but also over the bar to send the home side into the break trailing by a single goal.
The second half started quietly until Buckland won a free-kick on the edge of the box in the 52nd minute which Richard Groves hit into the wall before hitting the rebound goal-wards and finding Nick Rudge who only had Freeman to beat but the Clevedon keeper did well to keep the ball out.
The home side went close to an equaliser on 63 minutes. Sekani Simpson made progress down the right and played the ball inside to Alex Russell whose cross into the box found Vowles with his back to goal and he laid the ball back for Fortune to shoot just wide.
Another good passing move two minutes later started and finished with Vowles.
The young striker collected the ball before finding Fortune and a neat passing move saw Vowles in space on the left edge of the penalty area but unfortunately for the home fans his shot went straight at Kenny Griffiths.
Despite their attempts to get something from the game Clevedon nearly went further behind in the first minute of injury time when a long ball found Rudge through on Freeman but the keeper produced another good save to keep the final score to 1-0.
The weekend’s attendance was 62.
Clevedon are next in action on Saturday when Brislington make the short trip from Bristol to visit The Everyone Active Stadium with a 3pm kick-off.
Report and pictures courtesy of www.pitchero.com/clubs/clevedontown
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