Ridgeons Premier Division: Wisbech Town 0 FC Clacton 0

WISBECH Town boss Steve Appleby admitted his side need to be more clinical after the Fenmen failed to turn their domination into a deserved victory during Saturday’s 0-0 draw with FC Clacton.

Despite playing some excellent football at times the hosts were left to rue a number of missed chances as Clacton travelled home from their longest journey of the season with a precious point.

Even a masterclass from Darren Jimson, who shone throughout with some superb link-up play, was not enough to inspire the Fenmen who have now drawn eight league games this season.

Aaron Turner missed an absolute sitter on 15 minutes but wasn’t the only guilty party as a number of his team-mates failed to convert golden opportunities against a stubborn Clacton side.

Turner dragged his shot wide from around six yards after Andy Furnell cut the ball across the box to present the wideman with the simplest of chances.

It was the first of many that Wisbech created to leave Appleby scratching his head at his side’s inability to kill teams off this campaign.

“Frustrating is a word that sums it up really,” said the Fenmen boss. “I think we’ve outplayed them all game really. We’ve played some bright attractive football and opened them up to create chances.

“We just seem to have made the wrong decisions with our final choices. Either the square ball across the box or the final pass, or the final shot. “Basically we’re not clinical enough.”

Time and time again the home side passed their way into excellent positions but failed to finish off some great moves, many of which involved Jimson.

The exquisite frontman lit up the Tom Wood’s Beer Fenland Stadium with an array of flicks, touches and turns that cut Clacton apart on countless occasions.

At times it seemed as if he was one step ahead of everyone else on the pitch.

However, even he spurned his best opportunity of the game on 22 minutes when he toe-poked the ball straight at the Clacton ‘keeper when he should have probably squared the ball to Turner.

Despite dominating the first half the Fenmen nearly went behind before the break when the visitors missed two glorious chances of their own.

First, Sam Holman spooned wide from close range after the rock-solid Paul Cousins had deflected a cross into his path.

Then, Ray Turner skinned Jon Fairweather only to see his shot diverted onto the post by Lea Jordan.

The game became scrappier after the break but Wisbech still poured forward in the hope of finding an elusive goal.

Paul Jones was found at the back-post by Lewis Thompson but he sliced his shot which failed to round-off another sweeping move.

Jones was replaced by Matt Lunn with just over 20 minutes left, who made an impact on his return to action after missing three games through work commitments, and gave his side fresh impetus.

However it was left-back Scott Johnson who powered forward to slide the ball under Clacton ‘keeper Paul Rutherford with 15 minutes left only for his effort to be cleared off the line.

As Wisbech continued to pile on the pressure Lea Jordan had to be alert to make a stunning stop from Sam Holman who had ventured forward with 10 minutes remaining.

His effort was spectacularly tipped over by Jordan, whose counterpart Rutherford denied Lunn moments later.

Substitute Stacy Cartwright switched the ball out to Lunn who beat his man and fired a shot at the near post only for the Clacton ‘keeper to tip it around the post.

In injury-time Lewis Thompson had two half-chances to snatch a winner but to their credit the visitors threw bodies in the way like they had done throughout.

Appleby, who has been honest in his side’s inability to break down lesser teams in recent weeks, felt that was the case again today.

He said: “Clacton have travelled a very long way just to get a draw. They’ve come here for a point.

“They’ve taken every opportunity to slow the game down and I think the referee has allowed them to do that so I’m a bit annoyed but to be fair we should have been out of sight.

“We had two or three chances particularly in the first-half and again late on where we could have scored had we been more decisive.

“It’s a case of deja-vu really. I just said to the lads - in any other walk of life I’d be saying well done because we played some great football and it’s not been our day.

“Unfortunately two or three times this year we’ve drawn and not come away with the three points and you can’t keep saying that.

“We’re not turning the draws into wins and we’re not being clinical enough. “We need to put teams out of sight and we’re not doing that.”

Wisbech: Jordan, Flanz, Johnson, Cousins (captain), Fairweather, Reeve (Cartwright, 80), Jones (Lunn, 66), Thompson, Furnell (Stevens, 65), Jimson, Turner - Subs not used: Dear, Appleby - Booked: Fairbrother

Man of the match - Darren Jimson - Simply outstanding. His deft touches, turns and link-up play were a delight to watch from start to finish.