Clevedon 4 Brislington 3
Not many teams at this level have 'out of town stadiums' but Clevedon's impressive home is a mile or two away from the seaside town in a place called Kenn. Formally known as The Hand, it is now called The Everyone Active stadium. There is a gym and a full size floodlit astro on the complex but apart from that and the car park, the place appears fairly isolated, down the end of a long lane.
This was the second round of fixtures for both teams in the Toolstation Western Premier league. Brislington have been main stays of the Western League since the early 90's. Clevedon meanwhile were higher up in the pyramid in the Southern League until 2015 when they resigned from that level. That the club have recently played at a higher league is evident from the size of the Hand stadium. Built in 1992, the club clearly had ambitions to play in the upper echelons of the non league game. On one side of the pitch is the main stand pictured above. High walled and covered, it has several blocks of raised seats giving a good view of the pitch over the dug outs. Opposite is an impressive covered terrace that stretches the entire length of the pitch. Whilst both sides of the pitch wouldn't look out of place in the National League, the ends behind the goals are more modest uncovered terraces.
I've seen Brislington a couple of times over the last year or so and was disappointed to see no Niekel Plummer up front. The big target man, part of the renowned Bristolian footballing and Goggle box Plummer family, has been good value when I've seen them play in recent seasons.
Both teams looked young and fit, just as well as the game really was being played at a thunderous pace compared to a pre season encounter.
Brislington had a tall pacey young number 9, Louis Britton, who was evidently a lot quicker than the home sides centre backs. He raced on to an early through ball and was denied by the out rushing keeper who saved at his feet. Clevedon's number 11, Jack Sell, looked lively from the off and he opened the scoring with a cool finish. Finding himself one on one with the keeper, he feigned to shoot with his right, allowing the keeper to wrong foot himself before sliding it in with his left. 1-0 to the home team.
Not long after, Brislington were level: The number 9 beat the off side trap, running on to a ball over the top, dinking it over the keeper and then tapping it in to an empty net for a very well taken goal. 1-1.
Another fine goal saw Clevedon retake the lead. Brislington half cleared a rapid counter attack but the Clevedon number 8, Nicholson, tackled his opposite number just outside the area and almost in the same movement smashed the ball in to the top corner.
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One of the things I enjoy most about watching live football at any level is seeing how the players and management interact with the officials. Watching someone skilled in the 'dark arts' of getting inside the ref's head and trying to make sure the 50-50's go his way can be as entertaining as a 30 yard screamer. With this in mind I took up a position in the seats directly above the dug outs for the second half.
I was pleased to recognise a familiar face on the Brislington bench, I'm not sure if he was injured or has retired from playing, but Jason Hughs who has been the marshal of the Brislington defence in recent seasons was tonight barking orders from the touch line. Constantly in the refs ear with 'advice' he gets the balance between politeness and pressure just right. The game maintained a nice flow with a fair bit of verbal from both bench's towards the ref, without anyone blowing a gasket or getting sent off; Usually a good sign that the refs done alright.
The goals continued to fly in in the second half. After a lovely passing move, the home side went 3-2 up with a shot from the edge of the area that went in off a post. A Clevedon fan told me that on the previous saturday he'd worked out the average age of the starting 11 to be about 18 and a half. On this showing 'The Seasiders' have some fine young players on their hands. The pick of them for me was number 11 - Sell. He seemed to be limping for the whole of the second half but still managed to run at pace in to the box with the ball stuck to his feet and was unlucky not to add to his goal from the first half.
Brislington were not ready to roll over and die and made it 3-3 through Clarke Taylor. A deep cross came in from the left and Taylor managed to get a volley away before the keeper was able to set himself.
Clevedon continued to dominate though Brislington were also looking dangerous on the counter attack. The game was settled however with another screamer, Clevedon's Lucas Vowles scoring a fine free kick with a few minutes to go.
A cracking game of football with seven great goals. If Clevedon can tighten up the back they should be a force to be reckoned with this season.
