Elston United’s promotion campaign was boosted with three points from their visit to Arnold Town, enabling The Clams to leap-frog their hosts into second place. Elston were bright and positive from the kick-off, immediately putting pressure on Arnold’s midfield and defence, but Rui Thacker and James Scott were unable to convert Elston’s early chances. After 15 minutes, Arnold made Elston pay for their profligacy when their first attack of the game led to a fine first-time finish in the box by Max Elliot.

Elston dealt with this set-back positively, however, continuing to attack down both flanks through Will Veys and Harry Johnson. In the 25th minute another Elston attack led to great work in the box by James Scott and his cross was coolly converted at the second attempt by Veys to level the scores. After 44 minutes it was Veys turn to act as provider for Scott. An overlapping run by the Elston left back, Xander Millar, and a one-two pass with Veys allowed Veys to cross for Scott who buried the chance under the Arnold keeper. Just a minute later, on the stroke of half-time, Scott made it 3-1 to Elston when a long-ball caused confusion in the Arnold backline and Scott was able to toe-poke his second goal.

In the second-half the game was far tighter, but with Thacker constantly causing problems for the Arnold defence, Archie Dillon, Louis Cross and man-of-the-match Sam Lloyd sniffing out any danger in midfield, and the back four of James Smith, Toby Craven, Casey Pavitt and Xander Millar holding firm, Arnold were limited to just a few chances, the best of which was a free-kick from just outside the box which hit the outside of Brad Musgrove’s left-hand post.

In the later stages of the game, Elston had a few chances of their own and the players were able to celebrate a hard-earned and deserved three points at the final whistle. And, with results elsewhere going for The Clams, Elston are still in the hunt for promotion if they can win their final three games.