Clevedon picked up a point from a 2-2 draw at Exmouth Town as the new Toolstation Western League season began on Saturday.
The teams went into the game with vastly different pre-season form, with Exmouth on an eight-game winning run and the Seasiders having won two and lost four of their six friendlies.
And there was a dramatic start when Clevedon conceded a penalty in the first minute, but Harley Wilkinson dived to his left to save easily from Jordan Harris.
Boosted by the let-off Clevedon recovered well with Glen Hayer and Sam Hedges playing some great diagonal passes to set up chances for Elliot Nicholson, Ethan Feltham and Alex Kemsley.
But after Hayer was booked for a late challenge Exmouth enjoyed a spell in control with Ben Steer and Harris on the end of several half chances.
Feltham fired over when Callum Kingdon’s header from a long throw set him up and then just failed to latch on to Kemsley’s ball into the box before Exmouth keeper Robbie Powell.
The pressure told on 27 minutes as Nicholson burst into the box and beat two defenders, saw his shot blocked and the loose ball fall to Feltham, who was tripped. Ollie Babbington smashed the penalty into the roof of the net giving Powell no chance.
Exmouth almost equalised immediately, but Hayer cleared Max Gillard’s cross off the line to send Feltham clear again only to be stopped by Dave Rowe.
Another Hayer long ball saw Powell save from Babbington, who went clear on 33 minutes when he caught Tom Gardner napping, but Powell did well to stand his ground and make the save.
Feltham was inches away from getting his head on another Hayer cross, before a similar incident at the other end brought a goal for Exmouth after 41 minutes as Hedges was caught the wrong side of the dangerous Ben Steer who tucked the ball past Wilkinson’s dive.
The second half began with Exmouth on top as Steer beat Hedges again but flashed his shot wide, with optimistic appeals for a penalty turned down after the ball was fired at Hedges, before Sam Iles cleared a dangerous cross just wide of his own post.
The pressure told on 65 minutes when a long ball from the left cleared the Clevedon defence and Steer was on hand to make it 2-1 to the hosts.
Clevedon regrouped and the selfless running of Feltham, along with the introduction of substitute Jack Jones, got them back in the game with Exmouth giving away too many free kicks.
Clevedon had a great chance when man of the match Feltham found Hedges arriving on the far post, but his powerful header went over.
Max Gillard picked up a yellow card for tripping Kemsley and then three minutes from time a similar free kick from Hedges was headed back across goal by Archie Heywood for Jones to nod the ball over the keeper for a deserved Clevedon equaliser.
Clevedon almost won it deep in injury time when Williams was brought down and the free kick from Jones deflected off the wall and fell to substitute Alex Camm but Powell smothered the shot to end an entertaining game.
Town entertain Cadbury Heath on Wednesday (7.30pm) and visit old Southern League rivals Bishops Cleeve, now of the Hellenic League, in the FA Cup extra preliminary round on Saturday (3pm).
Clevedon: Wilkinson, Nicholson, Heywood, Kingdon, Hayer (Iles 46), Hedges, Pitt (Camm 75), Williams, Feltham, Babbington (Jones 66), Kemsley. Unused sub: Davies.
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