RELIEVED FC CLACTON boss Kieron Shelley believes his side have turned a corner in their so-far troubled season.

The Seasiders won their first game after beating Swaffham Town 1-0 at the Rush Green Bowl on Saturday.

They remain bottom of the Thurlow Nunn League premier division but are now within three points of their Norfolk opponents, heading into this weekend’s match at Haverhill Rovers.

The victory has fuelled hopes that Clacton can scramble away from the relegation zone and pull off a Houdini act.

And Shelley, who has remained confident and positive throughout, believes his side undoubtedly have the quality to build on their Swaffham success.

“We’ve certainly turned a corner in the last few weeks,” he said.

“A positive result has been on the cards. We could sense it.

“We’ve been incredibly unlucky not to have won a game before now.

“Everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong and that’s the way it goes when you’re bottom of the table.

“But you just have to stick together, keep doing what you believe is the right thing and hope you get your rewards – as happened for us on Saturday.

“We started the game really well and had we taken one of our early chances, we’d have gone on to batter them because I genuinely believe we’ve got the quality to give someone a hiding.

“That didn’t happen, though, and it became a typical bottom-of-the-table scrap, played out in horrible, difficult conditions.

“It was about who wanted it more and when chances went begging, I worried that it might be another one of those days.

“A point wouldn’t have been good enough for us, but we kept going and going and eventually got our rewards.”

Clacton started the day six points behind Swaffham.

A defeat would therefore have been a hammer-blow to their survival chances.

Instead, Matt Stace popped up with a dramatic late winner to put the Seasiders on four points, adding to the draw they managed at Ipswich Wanderers.

“The clean sheet was massive and the boys really deserved it, because they put a shift in from start to finish,” added Shelley.

“They had to stay focused and everyone was singing from the same hymn sheet, wanting to dig in to get the right result.

“They put their bodies on the line.

“The players were punching the air after the final whistle and jumping all over each other. It was really nice to see and hopefully it’s whet their appetite for more.”