So my first weekend back in Blighty saw me see a local derby in the most famous competition in the world as Sporting Bengal United hosted Clapton at the Mile End Stadium.
Early morning rain had cleared although it was still a very blustery afternoon in East London so both sides would have to adapt to the conditions laid before them. However with a bumper crowd packed into the main stand at the stadium, mostly due to the attendance of the now well known Clapton Ultras, a great atmosphere welcomed the teams at kick off.
The first fifteen minutes or so yielded very little in the way of attacking football, the only real attempt of note saw Clapton left winger Johnny Ashman cut inside and force hosts keeper Dwayne Esprit into a smart save to his left to push the ball away from goal whilst the hosts themselves were limited to a couple of long range efforts, both comfortably fielded by the giant frame of Pape Diagne in the Tons goal.
However the contest continued to drift along with not a lot of quality and although Ashman was looking lively down the Clapton left, he was ultimately ineffective along with everyone else as the tie was tight and tense and certainly not a classic. However the Tons almost gifted the hosts the lead just past the half hour mark when sloppy play allowed Zubair Hussain a sight of goal but he could only drag his effort wide.
It was a rare moment though as the half unsurprisingly came to a goal less conclusion and left both managers needing to try and get their sides to lift themselves to try and gain an advantage in a tie that so far had yielded very little in the way of goalmouth action. It was certainly to tight to call.
Half Time Sporting Bengal United 0 Clapton 0
You may have thought that the sides would come out all guns blazing and try and take the initiative in the tie but to be honest this never really happened as the match continued in its mundane affair. The Tons did have a couple of half chances, if you could call them that, and the hosts almost caught the visitors short at the back, but apart from this the first fifteen minutes of the half yielded very little once again.
Chances as you have probably worked out were few and far between but as the game entered the final twenty or so minutes the hosts saw a decent effort from Codey Cameron fly inches over the visitors bar whilst down the other end Clapton went close on three occasions in quick succession, one which saw them hit the post from barely two yards, although that was flagged offside anyway.
The game at least had slightly improved from the previous seventy odd minutes but the question on everyone’s lips was would anyone manage to find a winner? Sporting certainly went close to finding one inside the last ten minutes but saw the Tons defence somehow smuggle the ball out for a corner.
And then with four minutes of normal time remaining came the moment that saw the hosts grab a priceless lead. A cross came out to Hussain who hit a wonderful low effort from outside the box into the far corner of the net beyond Diagne in the Tons net and send the hosts wild with delight and then three minutes later they sealed their passage into the next round when a cross to the far post saw David Vaughan totally unmarked and he duly powered a header beyond Diagne and cued more celebrations with the home bench.
The referee did add on quite a bit of stoppage time due to many stoppages that had occured in the second half but Clapton did not threaten to find a way back into the contest and the full time whistle saw the hosts celebrate a huge win in their history as they reach the First Qualifying Round of the FA Cup for the first time in ten attempts. They face Evo-Stik Premier sideKings Langley away on September 3rd and no doubt they will give a good account of themselves against higher league opposition.
Full Time Sporting Bengal United 2 Clapton 0
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