Cheddar let themselves down again in a game that they could, and arguably should, have won.

Cleeve have been the league’s surprise team this season and started the game in a comfortable third place and Cheddar turned up to find as good a surface as you could hope for in the first week of February. Despite the hosts league position, Cheddar were strong with most of the squad available, in fact Mike Kay was starting on the bench to show the strength of the team on the day.

The early exchanges saw both teams looking stronger going forward and gaps being exploited in the centre of the park. Cleeve were playing to the pitch, making it as wide as possible but Cheddar were well organised in all areas and were always a threat when moving forward, with Tom Manning instrumental in all that they did well and Adams Jones a constant threat up front.

Despite a lot of attacking from both sides, chances were few and far between and both keepers were having a quiet games. It was Cleeve who had the games first clear cut chance as the visiting defence left it for each other and the Cleeve attackers stole into see the ball going towards the goal but be cleared off the line. The only other scare for the Cheddar back four was a kick to the head to man of the match, Paul Whittaker, from which he recovered bravely to be commanding for the rest of the game.

It was Cheddar who broke the deadlock when a superb strike from Tim Moody arrowed past the home keeper and into the corner of the net from 20 yards. Cheddar then held out comfortably to the break and even forced the Cleeve keeper into a very good save just before the interval.

Cheddar knew that the game was there for the winning and came out pumped up and confident but were shocked in the opening few minutes when a mishit cross from the Cleeve right got caught on the swirling wind to go into the far post, giving Lawrence Jenkins no chance. Despite this freak goal Cheddar took the game to their hosts and should have scored with the best chance falling to Mike Edmonds and then Adam Jones having a shot cleared off the line somehow.

Cleeve then scored what turned out to be the winner as a really good move ended with a shot being hammered home from the edge of the box, though Cheddar had claimed that the move should have been stopped at its start as the Cleeve defender won the initial tackle with a two footed challenge.

The last ten minutes saw Cheddar send Paul Whittaker forward and the home side defend desperately but Cheddar could not snatch a deserved equaliser. The best chance fell to Mike Kay but despite being kicked he stayed on his feet in the box and the chance was gone, though the referee told the Cheddar players after the match “if he had gone down, he would have awarded a penalty”!! So much for honesty!!

Another single goal defeat but Cheddar really only have themselves to blame with the fitness of the side looking questionable at present, a situation that could not have been envisaged earlier in the season when they were amongst the fittest sides in the league. This has to be rectified if their true ability is to shine through in the rest of the season.