Clements

CLEMENTS '83 4-2 YOUNG WARRIORS

Saturday 15th January 2011

Midland Combination Division 2

Sedgemere Sports & Social Club

Clements '83 Football Club were formed in 1983 by two brothers Keith and Barry Dutton and have literally been a family run club ever since. They first played Saturday football in 2008 when they were accepted into division 3 of the Midland Combination and achieved a seventh place finish in the thirteen team division. Last season they finished in the runners-up position and with it promotion to the second division. As things stand they have not had the best first half of the season as they find themselves in the bottom four. The club only moved to their current home in the summer, which is in the Yardley area of Birmingham after their previous landlords at the Mackadown Sports & Social Club in Kitts Green wanted too much rent. This appears to be a case of "biting your nose off to spite your face" as (I believe) no club now utilises the facilities at the Mackadown. The Sedgemere Sports & Social Club is a smart venue which is houses a fully railed off full sizes football pitch with hard standing on a couple of sides and a Goals soccer centre. For those unaware Goals centres are a series of small artificial pitches that are inside a cage. 

It took around an hour to make the journey westwards with Gary picking me up around 12.15pm, and this included a detour to Nuneaton railway station to pick up Pete and Alan who had travelled down from Liverpool.  

It was an entertaining game played on a heavy pitch after the rain that we have had in the past week in the Midlands. Young Warriors played the better football but often lacked an end product, while the home side were a little bit more physical which certainly during the first half appeared to unsettle the visitors. Before the opening goal came around the half hour mark both sides had chances. Clements saw several shots cleared off the line in a goalmouth scramble and at the other end the home keeper produced a smart save to keep the score goalless. When it did come it was for the hosts as Danny Charlton got on the end of a through ball and, having held off a challenge slotted the ball past the Warriors keeper. Seven minutes later and they doubled their advantage when the ball came to Andy Sutherland on the edge of the penalty area who hit a first time shot into the net. Numerous chances came and went with Clements' Dean Sherrington heading wide from a free kick and then having a shot well saved in the last five minutes of the first half. The second half was pretty much dominated by the visitors and they deservedly pulled a goal back on 56 minutes. A long ball up field was latched onto by Melusi Mazwi who kept his composure and rounded the keeper to score into an empty net. Warriors kept up the pressure and with around eight minutes remaining a quick free kick caught out the Clements defence and Stewart Mparutsa finished from eight yards out. With the visitors from Coventry appearing more likely to take all three points the game entered injury time at the end of the match. Clements caught the Warriors on the counter attack and snatched the victory when Danny Charlton got his second of the game as he slotted the ball into the corner of the net after evading the challenge of a couple of defenders. There was still time for another goal when Rob Morgan converted a penalty a few minutes later, this resulted in the referee blowing his whistle for full time.

Further photos taken during the 1st half can be found here: CFC

Admission: none

Programme: 50p

Badge: £2

Tea / Coffee: £1

Match rating: 3 1/2 out of 5