Loss drops Clawson from MAC Blue lead
Clawson loses control of MAC Blue lead with 1-0 loss against Fraser
FRASER » The Fraser Ramblers and Clawson Trojans began Monday night tied for first atop the Macomb Area Conference Blue Division.
At the end of the night, it was the Ramblers that emerged with a 1-0 victory and sole possession of first place.
Jacob Stone scored the game’s only goal when he raced down the right side and slotted a ball past the charging goalkeeper with 24:44 remaining in the second half.
The Ramblers had the better of possession for much of the game, and Fraser generated 12 shots on goal overall.
But the Clawson defense of Gabe Stevens, Devin McCullough, and Connor Monro limited the quality of Fraser’s chances. The Ramblers only had a couple of quality opportunities outside of Stone’s goal.
“They (Clawson) did a good job defending us. They have a strong team, and I was just telling the boys we just have to have patience,” Fraser head coach Michael Agostini said. “We work on that (possession) a lot, try to keep the ball as much as we possibly we can. We like to have that patient build up, but teams like this do a good job of defending it, and that’s what they did. They made it difficult for us.”
Offensively, Clawson was led by the play of Alex Cordone in midfield. The Trojans’ best chances came early in the second half when Clawson generated a breakaway, two corner kicks, and close in chance off a giveaway in quick succession but came away empty handed.
Other than that flurry, the Fraser defense led by Gjon Prekaj and Amar Selmic did a good job of taking Clawson out of rhythm and pushing their chances to the outside.
With the win, Fraser improves to 5-3-1 overall and 4-0 in MAC Blue. The Ramblers face Warren Mott on Wednesday as they continue MAC Blue play.
Clawson is now 4-6-1 overall and 3-1 in MAC Blue. The Trojans will try to get back in the win column on Wednesday when they host St. Clair Shores Lakeview in another divisional game.
“This was a team win tonight. I can’t name off one. There’s just a bunch of them that played well tonight,” Agostini said. “We’re excited. We’re really happy, and it’s one of those things where we worked our butts off for it.”
The teams will have a rematch at Clawson on Oct. 6, near the end of the season.
“We played good defensively. Our attack was okay,” Trojans head coach Dan Wickham said. “Fraser’s a good club. We look forward to playing them again and getting some revenge.”