Non-League and Academy football writer

Clapton Community FC were the hosts at the Old Spotted Dog ground, for a Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties League Division One South fixture against Wormley Rovers, on Saturday afternoon. I got to see a really good game of football at the Old Spotted Dog Ground, with a lot of goalscoring chances in the game. A match between two very good sides in the league, the match was an entertaining 2-2 draw, although I thought that the visitors were unfortunate not to have won the game. A very well attended game, the first real chance of the match came very early on. It was for the visitors, with the Wormley Rovers number eight seeing his deflected free-kick effort from the edge of the Clapton Community FC penalty area, gathered by goalkeeper Jack Francis. A couple of minutes later there was a handball shout, following a cross into the Clapton Community penalty area, but this was waived away by the referee. Soon after, the game had its first goal of the afternoon, and it came from one of Clapton Community’s first real attacking moves of the game. Terry Amoafo got to the ball before the Wormley Rovers goalkeeper, inside the visitor’s penalty area, and he then quickly found Fred Taylor, in the centre of the penalty area. And Taylor’s low effort found the back of the goal, to give the home side the lead.

Ryan Stevenson equalised for Wormley Rovers from a corner-kick into the Clapton Community penalty area, with Stevenson’s powerful header giving Jack Francis no chance of saving it. Wormley Rovers were playing well, and were in my opinion on top in the game. An effort from Wormley’s number six on the Clapton Community goal, ended up finding its way to his teammate, number seven, inside the home team’s box. The Wormley Rovers player would have definitely scored, but for an outstanding reaction save from Jack Francis, to push the ball onto the post. The Wormley Rovers number three then hit a first time effort over the Clapton Community goal, from the edge of their penalty area, before the Wormley number seven had a great chance to put Wormley in front. After having the ball played through to his feet inside the Clapton Community box, he found himself one on one with Jack Francis, but once again the goalkeeper made a crucial save, to stop the number seven’s low effort from going in. The Wormley number five almost turned in Noah Adejokun’s good cross into the Wormley penalty area, with the Wormley number nine and centre-forward, hitting the crossbar at the other end, however, the linesman’s flag had gone up for offside.

The skilful Wormley Rovers number 11 headed the Wormley right-back’s (their number two) cross wide, from inside the Clapton Community penalty area, in what was the final chance of the first half. Early on in the second half, Clapton Community’s Charlie Fagan had a headed effort on the Wormley goal, cleared off the line by a defender. Then, a couple of moments later, the Wormley number seven came close to scoring on two occasions. His first chance was well worked, as he skilfully went around Clapton Community goalkeeper Jack Francis, inside the penalty area, but he was unable to sort his feet out in time, and so the winger could only hit the outside of the left post, from his effort. Then, soon afterwards, the same player hit a good effort against the top of the crossbar, from the edge of the home team’s penalty area. Noah Adejokun then curled an effort over the Wormley goal from outside their penalty area, before Wormley Rovers’ number ten hit an effort over Jack Francis’ goal, from the edge of the penalty area, as Wormley continued to be the better side. The same Wormley number ten whipped a good free-kick effort narrowly wide of the Clapton Community goal, as the game progressed.

Against the run of play in the second half, Clapton Community were awarded a free-kick, from which they regained the lead from. The delivery into the Wormley Rovers box from James Goldring, eventually fell to Terry Amoafo inside the penalty area, after a teammate had an earlier effort well blocked. From there Terry Amoafo hit a powerful and unstoppable effort past the Wormley Rovers goalkeeper from close range, as the crowd cheered loudly. A good piece of skill from the impressive Wormley Rovers number seven, saw him skip past a Clapton Community defender inside their penalty area, however, his resulting effort went over the goal. Finally, a couple of minutes later Wormley Rovers managed to get level in the game once again. Clapton Community’s goalkeeper Jack Francis really didn’t deserve to concede this goal after having a really good game. However, a powerful low effort from the Wormley Rovers number 15, from the edge of the Clapton Community box, bounced/moved awkwardly in front of goalkeeper Jack Francis, and it ended up going into the goal, to make it 2-2.

Soon after equalising for the second time in the game, Wormley Rovers came close to scoring a late winner. After their number ten threaded a good pass through the Clapton Community defence to put the Wormley Rovers number seven through on goal inside the penalty area, it looked as if Clapton Community’s impressive unbeaten run was going to come to an end. However, the Wormley Rovers number seven could only put the ball over Jack Francis’ goal. Clapton Community substitute Joel Akuwudike, hit a very late effort over the Wormley Rovers goal, from inside their penalty area, just before the referee sounded his whistle for full-time. This was a very good game of football, played in front of a loud atmosphere throughout the game. I thought that Wormley Rovers were very good on Saturday afternoon, and that both sides will finish in very strong positions in the league, come the end of the season. There were a number of impressive performances on Saturday. Clapton Community goalkeeper Jack Francis made some excellent saves in goal, and some really good decisions inside his penalty area. And Terry Amoafo provided an assist as well as getting a good goal for Clapton Community. And for Wormley Rovers, I thought that their number seven showed some real quality on the ball. And also, the Wormley Rovers number four, who I believe is Ruben Silva, read the game well and also defensively did very well in midfield for the away side.