Clapton manager Mustafa Bashkal hailed his side’s best performance yet as they bagged a spot in the Len Cordell Memorial Cup semi-finals.
The Tons nabbed a 1-0 victory over Essex Senior League rivals Stansted despite being down to 10 men for the majority of the match.
Clapton edged in front just past the quarter-hour mark when a lovely ball in from the left by Daniel Emovan found Eleftherios Metso who applied a decent finish past the helpless Jarvis Monk into the top corner from close range.
Stansted tried to respond and almost found a leveller when skipper Billy Coyne’s free kick was glanced just wide of the far post by Joe Wright, before Clapton's captain was given his marching orders.
Hussain Jaffa, who got into a confrontation with the hosts after an aerial challenge with Nick Reynolds, seemed to lose his head thereafter and after a few more choice words with opposing players and the referee, saw his luck finally run out on the half-hour mark when he was first given a yellow card for dissent and then literally another one seconds later after he continued his verbal abuse of the official.
“We are very pleased to have reached the semi-final, that was the best performance so far from the boys as our captain got sent off midway into the first half,” the boss said.
“The only positive is we started well and scored early, we were down to 10 men for 65 minutes and the opposition only registered one shot on target in the 89th minute, so that just shows how hard the boys worked, they deserved all the credit.”
Clapton have only conceded once in the cup competition so far and that came in the first group stage game against Redbridge, who they will now face in the semi-finals.
“So far in this competition the only team to score against us is Redbridge, we lost 1-0 and the boys remember that sour taste very well," added Bashkal.
“We are excited for the game. Nonetheless we respect our opposition as they’ve not lost yet.
“Both teams want to be in the final, it will be a challenge but nothing worth having doesn’t come without a challenge.”
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