CLACTON 28

MILLWALL 13

Essex League Premiership

WITH this hard-fought win, Clacton made it four wins out of four since the Essex League was split back in January.

Unbeaten Braintree have almost sealed the title but there is a real scrap going on for the runners-up place, with Canvey Island, Millwall, Maldon and the Seasiders all in the mix.

Clacton had Tom Cox, Lee Amman and Lee Turner back for this encounter, but were missing Shane Jerram with a hip injury.

Ben Buxey dropped to the replacements bench and this enabled the outstanding Bayley Eden to retain his place in the pack.

The youngster repaid coach Matt Mahoney's faith in him with another excellent display and he is certainly a player to watch for the future.

Millwall started the match camped in the Clacton half and if anyone had offered the home supporters any points from the game at that early stage, they would have been gratefully accepted.

The visitors were so on top that when they were awarded a perfectly kickable penalty after five minutes, they elected to take a scrum.

Some heroic defending by the Seasiders prevented any scoring and, when they finally got out of their own half on 16 minutes, they themselves were awarded a penalty for offside, 22 metres in front of goal.

Captain Jake Buxey took the more pragmatic approach and Elliott Shuttleworth repaid the choice by kicking the opening three points.

The same player had an opportunity to double the lead on the half-hour mark, but his kick was dragged wide and it was not until the closing stages of the half that there was a flurry of scores.

An attempted clearance by Clacton was charged down by a Millwall player and he then won the race to pounce on the ball over the line.

A comfortable conversion put the visitors in front, but they found themselves offside once more around the 22-metre line and this time Shuttleworth used the inside of the post to secure the three points.

Clacton were in the ascendency now and a powerful run by Lee Amman saw him slip the ball for Jake Buxey to score.

Shuttleworth's conversion meant a six-point lead, with the excellent referee, Dan Howson, signalling that the Millwall re-start would be the final play of the half.

The Seasiders attempt at securing the ball went hopelessly awry and they were penalised for not rolling away from the tackle area.

A fine kick meant the score at the turnaround was 13-10.

Fortunately, Clacton's efforts at securing the ball at the start of the second half were much better and after excellent work by the forwards, Amman stretched the lead in the right corner.

Four minutes later, a high Millwall tackle was penalised and Shuttleworth's kick split the posts perfectly.

Back came the visitors with a penalty of their own to make the scores 21-13 and still half an hour to go.

A mixture of rugby followed, with some scrappy work being illuminated by some fine handling and running from both sides, but it was not until 67 minutes had gone that Clacton scored their third try.

A loose bouncing ball was kicked through and Aaron Redpath just beat James Garrod and a Millwall defender in the chase to touch it down.

Another Shuttleworth kick meant the visitors would now require in excess of two converted tries and the match made its way to a conclusion.

Unfortunately, with just six minutes remaining, the Millwall replacement prop was badly injured and it was felt he should not be moved.

All the various game accoutrements – post protectors and flags – were collected by and players and spectators and moved to the second pitch and the remaining minutes were played out with uncontested scrums.

However, there was no further scoring from either side.

Amman was given the Clacton man-of-the-match accolade afterwards.

The Seasiders now begin the return matches of the premiership and they start with a visit from Stanford-le-Hope on Saturday.

Clacton won the away fixture 38-34 and will be looking to at least match that.