Town lose in lacklustre display

Brackley Town 2

Clevedon Town 1

CLEVEDON travelled to Northamptonshire to play Brackley Town and lost 2-1 in a lacklustre display, which leaves them in 19th place in the Zamaretto Premier Division table.

Ben Evans and Tom Billing returned to the starting 11 in place of Callum Fisher and Sam Small, as Clevedon started in a 4-5-1 formation.

On a superb playing surface, the first half was a largely forgettable affair. The home team had the better of the play and wasted several half-chances. Tom Winters and Ben Mackey came closest to putting Brackley ahead, while all that Clevedon had to show for their efforts was a crisp shot just wide from Josh Brigham, and a couple of dangerous crosses from Pete Sheppard, as the game remained scoreless at half time.

Brackley made a couple of early substitutions in the second half, and finally went ahead on 63 minutes when a chipped ball over the Seasiders' defence was volleyed powerfully into the net by Elliot Sandy, with Clevedon players appealing in vain for an offside flag. Tom Winters blasted another shot just wide before Joey Evans hit the ball over the bar when well-placed for the visitors.

On 71 minutes Brackley made it 2-0 when Mark Rawle received the ball on the edge of the box, turned smartly, and placed his shot high into the far corner of Danny Greaves's goal. This set-back seemed to galvanise Clevedon, who pushed forward to find a way back into the game, and on 83 minutes they got their reward when a poor corner was only half-cleared by the Brackley defence to Clevedon captain Lee Molyneaux who scoredd through a crowd of players. Substitute Aaron Blakemore then shot wide, and Dale Peckham was relieved to see an offside flag against him as he mis-hit a shot from six yards out when he should have scored. But the equaliser would not come and Brackley ran out the worthy winners.

Town's next game at the Hand Stadium will be the FA Cup second qualifying round tie on Saturday against Newport County, kick-off 3pm.