Rather than a mundane early round Somerset Premier Cup game the draw pitted close rivals Clevedon Town and Portishead Town together and turned this fixture into something a bit special and helped by an excellent pitch, despite the recent heavy rain and number of games played on it, the two teams produced an entertaining attacking cup tie.

Both teams made changes to their line ups and Portishead were missing former Seasiders Mitch Osmond and Callum Eastwood with injuries whilst Clevedon showed the depth of their squad which included a first game of the season for Sam Iles who fitted in seamlessly.

Portishead made a bright start, and Iles was in action straightaway to block Callum Dunn’s effort, Glen Hayer headed away a dangerous cross into the box, two Kyle Egan corners were both dealt with by the Clevedon defence, and Tom Llewellyn saw a shot blocked.

Clevedon had to wait until the 13th minute for their first effort when Harrison Kyte put a shot wide, but Portishead continued to dominate.
A long ball was swept out to Jack Harper on the right, but Seasiders keeper James Dunn who was captain for the night was quickly out to clear and then Hayer stopped Egan. Dunn then pushed out an Egan corner to former Seasider Ethan Feltham, but James Tait got in a block at the expense of another Egan corner which Hayer cleared again.

Portishead finally went ahead after 28 minutes when a deep cross sat up perfectly for Harper to tuck in at the far post. They almost added a second straight after, but a tremendous Dunn save kept the ball out.
Stung into action, Clevedon started to push forward, and they were level on 36 minutes with a well worked goal. Kyte sent Kieran Ireland racing down the right and Sam Beresford was in the right place to tap in the cross from close in.

Not content with that Clevedon continued to look for more and Elliot Nicholson’s shot from Kyte’s pass was well saved by Posset keeper Finlay Croft and then Nicholson found Beresford, but Croft was again on hand to clear.

Clevedon finally made the pressure count and grabbed the lead just before half time. Kyte laid the ball off to Henry Westlake who advanced towards the penalty area and hit an absolute screamer which started off low but swung sharply and up into the top corner of the net giving keeper Croft no chance and the Seasiders a vital 2-1 advantage at half time.

Clevedon poured forward at the start of the second half as they looked to increase their advantage. Tait mistimed an attempted volley from Nicholson’s cross, Nicholson was then just wide himself after a good build up by Joe Teall and Beresford, and Kyte was just over from a corner.

More chances came and a Beresford first time effort on 57 minutes was just over, Hayer headed a Tait corner just over and Portishead substitute Jake Packham cleared Teall’s pull back into the area. Caleb Selway headed a Tait free-kick just over and after a good Teall tackle won the ball, Kyte put his shot over.

With nothing to lose Portishead pressed forward and were on top in the last quarter of an hour. Clevedon attempted to break the game up, bringing on George King, Alex Camm and Sam Ledward and coped well with what was thrown at them. The only real danger came from a ball which flashed across the area from the right and brushed away off the far post and the Seasiders celebrated a safe passage into the second round with a final score of Clevedon Town 2 Portishead Town 1.