CLACTON 24

IPSWICH YM 25

Suffolk Cup first round

CLACTON failed to progress to the Suffolk Cup quarter-finals when they lost to Ipswich YM by a solitary point.

The Seasiders were left ruing the fact that they had gone into the game with just the bare 15 players and ended up playing the last quarter of the match with 14 players.

Ipswich YM are enjoying an excellent league season and currently boast a 100 per cent record in Eastern Counties League division one.

They attacked a sluggish Clacton side from the off and forced the Vista Road side into giving away a number of penalties before opening the scoring after eight minutes.

The visitors doubled their advantage five minutes later but that was just the kick that Clacton needed to sting them into action.

Man of the match Jon Vine secured the ball from the restart and bundled his way over the try-line.

It then looked as if Bayley Eden had levelled things but he dropped the ball when over the line for a knock-on.

However, Vine levelled the scores level on 34 minutes with an excellent solo run after the ball had been moved across the field, stretching the visiting defence.

Elliott Shuttleworth added the extras to put his side in front at 12-10 but the YM pack was dominating the scrums.

A Clacton infringement at the set-piece saw the visitors retake the lead on the stroke of half-time with a penalty try.

George Barclay restored parity 12 minutes into the second half as he rounded off a smart interchange between Vine and Jake Buxey and Elliott Shuttleworth's conversion regained the lead.

Five minutes later, Vine secured his personal hat-trick to extend the lead to seven points.

But then an injury to Max Swift saw the Seasiders having to try and negotiate the final quarter of the game with a numerical disadvantage.

They held out until the Ipswich forwards set-up a productive rolling maul to secure a difference of two points with ten minutes to go.

A collapsed scrum on 77 minutes saw the Clacton forwards penalised and the resultant kick saw the lead change hands once more.

Clacton managed to get themselves into the visitors half and turned down a potential penalty opportunity in favour of the corner.

Unfortunately, the try attempt was thwarted and Ipswich YM claimed victory to book a home meeting with Stowmarket in the next round.

Clacton return to league action this Saturday with a visit to Basildon.

Clacton Kestrels were beaten 60-45 at Harwich II, in a friendly at Low Road.

Both teams were short of players but the hosts sportingly agreed to even up the numbers and they both started with 12 men each.

They also played with uncontested scrums, which in turn led to an open and free-running game.

Veteran Ian Eaton opened the Clacton scoring with a 40-metre run but Harwich then assumed control to score some tries of their own.

Charlie Bowen notched four tries with some excellent defence-splitting running and picked up the Kestrels man-of-the-match accolade.

Hooker for the day Alex Wilkins and debutant Ben Warrillo both broke through for individual efforts and Lewis Sheekey converted five of the seven tries his side scored to make the total up to 45 points.

The Kestrels host Ipswich III at Vista Road on Saturday, in their final fixture of 2017 - kick-off 2pm.