CLACTON 41

WRITTLE WANDERERS 17

Essex League division 1B

CLACTON ran in six tries to record an outstanding win and maintain second place in the table.

However, they were pushed all the way against a resilient mid-Essex side and the visitors left a fog-shrouded Vista Road wondering how they had lost so heavily.

These sides have met on a number of occasions over the past seasons and both clubs have a healthy respect for each other.

The Seasiders started well and went in front on just eight minutes.

Some excellent forward play in the right-hand corner saw the ball moved through the backs' hands to the left-hand side and Aaron Redpath capitalised in the corner.

Writtle secured the ball from the re-start and Clacton were penalised, but the kicking attempt for three points went wide. Instead, it was the Seasiders who increased their lead when Lee Turner rounded off another well-worked move, with Elliott Shuttleworth adding the extra two points this time.

At this stage, the Clacton pack was dominant, winning both line-outs and scrums, and Tom Cox increased the lead on 27 minutes after some more work from his colleagues.

Writtle were awarded a penalty from the kick-off and got some points on the board, but then went further behind five minutes before the break.

Jake Buxey made the most of a set-move to drift in under the posts for a bonus-point try and, with Shuttleworth adding the extras, the Seasiders turned round at the break with a 26-3 lead.

Writtle refused to throw in the towel and the Clacton defence was put under pressure at the start of the second half. However, they refused to buckle and an audacious piece of play from Shuttleworth stretched the home lead further.

A clever chip over the defence and catch around the halfway line saw the opportunist fly-half racing for the right corner with the ball and he added the extras with another fine kick.

Looking to turn the screw, a penalty opportunity was converted by the same player on 62 minutes, but Writtle came back with a try in the corner just two minutes later.

An excellent conversion from out wide made the score 36-10 and it became 36-17 as the visitors scored a try under the posts for their second of the day, with just ten minutes to go.

Clacton coach Matt Mahoney had tried to ensure all of his 18-man squad were given a run-out and the side started to look vulnerable to the speedy Writtle back line.

However, a penalty into the corner, followed by a line-out win, allowed Max Swift to make it six tries for his side and an overall score of 41-17.

The Clacton man-of-the-match award was a joint one, with both Jon Vine and Redpath sharing it.

This was one of the Seasiders better displays and was in complete contrast to the rather stodgy performance at Harwich just seven days earlier.

They now have three games left before the leagues split up and the first of those is on January 7 when they travel to current league leaders Braintree.

The news from the Kestrels was no so good.

They were badly let down by last-minute call-offs and were forced to concede their fixture against Thurston.

This was the first time since 2011 that a Clacton side has had to concede a game for this reason and some of the players really need to have a serious look at themselves.

Either they commit themselves to playing or they do not.

Crying off on a Saturday morning is simply not acceptable to the club or to their fellow players.