RIDGEONS PREMIER LEAGUE Soham Town Rangers 3 Clacton Town 1 A GOAL in the first minute gave Soham a dream start to the season. Kick-off was delayed by nearly two hours after the Clacton team bus was caught up in traffic, due to an accident on the A14, a

RIDGEONS PREMIER LEAGUE

Soham Town Rangers 3

Clacton Town 1

A GOAL in the first minute gave Soham a dream start to the season.

Kick-off was delayed by nearly two hours after the Clacton team bus was caught up in traffic, due to an accident on the A14, and this made preparations difficult. But it soon became evident that Soham were fully focused when Paul Jones, making his full first-team debut, delivered a ball to the back post and Aaron Rutter headed it into the bottom corner.

Clacton, who looked much stronger than the team that finished bottom of the table last year, didn't let their heads drop and quickly put Soham under pressure. Sean Hillier hit the inside of the post in the seventh minute, before Paul Hill saved Soham with a clearing header. The pressure continued with Hillier at the centre of the Clacton attacks. Hillier fired over from six yards, after a cross came in from the right, and the Seasiders thought they had equalised when he found the net on the half-hour mark when a shot from the edge of the box went under Dean Greygoose. To Rangers' relief, the goal was disallowed for off-side.

This sparked Soham into life and they were dominant for the rest of the half. The pressure paid off when Jones raced on to a perfect through-ball from Peter Hinde and calmly slotted the ball home in the 38th minute.

Soham continued to press at the start of the second half, with Scott Johnson moving inside from the left, and pulling the strings. Rangers created numerous chances with Steve Bell, on for the injured Michael Simpson, shooting over the bar when one-on-one with the keeper, and then Andy

Furnell, making his 100th appearance for the club, turning well inside the box and forcing a good save.

The visitors were handed a life-line in the 66th minute when Dunkley was brought down by Hinde and the referee awarded a penalty. Danger-man Hillier made no mistake from the spot, with a clean strike into the bottom left corner of the net.

There were some nervous moments at 2-1, and by this point, the heavy pitch was starting to hinder Soham's natural passing game.

But Johnson made the game safe with a stunning volley in the 78th minute. Rutter lobbed in a perfect cross to Johnson at the edge of the box and the midfielder came in from the left to strike the ball perfectly into the top right corner of the net.