Clevedon Town 1 Taunton Town 1

On a sunny February afternoon Clevedon Town drew 1-1 against Taunton Town on Saturday at home in this Evo-Stik Southern League division one south and west match.

Both sides started the game at full pelt and the ball was moved around the pitch at speed without any real forward movement until a good clearance upfield from Steve Kingdon found Russell Church who took the ball in to the Taunton area and lobbed the keeper only to see his effort go just over the bar. 

The same player had an opportunity on ten minutes when put through for a one on one with Grant Fisher in the visitors' goal; this time the keeper was able to block the shot.

Taunton's first real chance fell to Simon Ingram with a free kick in the fifteenth minute that he bent round the defensive wall that brought a low diving save from Lee Matthews at the near post.

The game continued to flow from end to end with efforts falling to both sides with the closest to a goal being Dave Stone for the hosts when he launched a long range effort from wide on the right that beat the visiting keeper and landed on the top of the net.

A half time the score stood at Clevedon Town 0 Taunton Town 0.

The second half was a more sedate affair and it wasn't until the 53rd minute that the crowd had something to get excited about as Dave Stone picked up a pass just inside of the Clevedon half and set off on a run that concluded with him sending a running shot from all of 25 yards just over the bar. 

The deadlock was broken on 58 minutes when a free-kick out on the Clevedon left was sent in to the area by Alex Russell, the ball bobbled about with several people miss hitting it until, in the end, Sam Teale slotted the ball in to the net to give the hosts the lead. 

Further chances followed for the home side as Dan Williams first had a header just over the bar from close range and then saw a very delicate chip over Fisher in the visitors' goal bounce off of the mud and go just wide of the post when the fans all thought it was going in.

 Taunton had their chances and Rodney Marsh had a 40 yard effort that just skimmed the home bar and then Carl Cliff Brown saw his effort cleared off of the line by Aron Robbins. 

With Clevedon reduced to 10 men in the 81 minute after Sam Teale had been sent off for a second bookable offence, Taunton started to exert pressure and when Aron Robbins was adjudged to have handled the ball on 82 minutes, Rodney Marsh stepped up and slotted the penalty in to the net to level the scores.

Clevedon Town line up 1. Lee Matthews 2. Dave Stone 3. Aron Robbins 4. Rory Prendergast 5. Steve Kingdon 6. Sam Teale - Goal 58 mins 7. Alex Russell 8. Adi Adams 9. Clayton Fortune 10. Russell Church 11. Dan Williams 12. Joe Swift 14. Reeko Best - sub for Williams 84 mins 15. Liam Lester 17. Micky Bell,

 Clevedon Town man of the match was Adi Adams. 

With a mere 113 spectators in the ground for this game there is room for plenty more at the next home fixtures on:

• Wednesday, February 27v  Hungerford Town, kick-off 7.45pm;
• Saturday, March 9 v  Paulton Rovers, kick-off 3pm; and
• Wednesday, March 20 v  Poole Town, kick-off 7.45pm.