Despite the conditions, the pitch played superbly and, with the referee sensibly taking the conditions into account, it contributed to an exciting game between two very good sides.

The Seasiders took the initiative from the start and roared into the lead after only four minutes.

Tom Chaplin pounced on the ball in midfield and sent Ben Griffith racing through on goal to shoot across St Blazey keeper Kyle Moore into the far corner of the net.

They almost doubled the lead two minutes later when Ethan Streeter’s effort was blocked for a corner, and Dan Ball’s header from a perfectly flighted Lloyd James corner was spectacularly tipped over the bar by Moore.

The corner was cleared, but Clevedon launched a long ball forward, and Moore had to be quick off his line to gather, with Lucas Vowles bearing down on him.

The visitors’ first chance came after 11 minutes when Sean Thomson’s shot from 20 yards hit James Dunn, who quickly gathered the ball before it could cause any further problems.

Clevedon began to dominate, and in an almost carbon copy of the opening goal, another Chaplin sent Griffith racing into the area again, only to stumble as he was about to shoot and the ball bobbled harmlessly wide.

For the visitors, Kai Burrell’s run took him to the byline to shoot from a narrow angle, and Dunn saved at the front post and then had to react quickly to take Cam Hutchinson’s shot from a similar position after a short corner routine.

Back came Town and Chaplin sent Josh Bennett down the right to win a corner which James delivered on to Streeter’s head only for the ball to flick off a defender onto the top of the bar, so the teams turned round with Clevedon holding a slender 1-0 lead.

The Seasiders made another quick start to the second period when St Blazey lost the ball, and Moore came to the rescue when he saved from Vowles, and then three times in a couple of minutes Sloggett set up further chances.

St Blazey’s response saw Reece Shanley shoot over, but they didn’t have to wait to equalise just after the hour when Hutchinson picked up the ball wide on the right and slipped past Ball and fired in a spectacular goal from the narrow angle.

Sensing an opportunity to take the lead, St Blazey came forward again and after a slip in the Clevedon defence Olly Redd fizzed a low cross-shot across the six-yard box.

Clevedon went close again on 72 minutes when Jordan Bentley headed Griffith’s header off the line from substitute Jamie King’s cross.

The turning point came when Burrell was given a sin-bin for protesting too much, and Clevedon immediately swapped midfielder Henry Westlake for additional striker Nick McCootie and took full advantage on 82 minutes.

King’s corner was blocked, but the ball fell perfectly for McCootie to absolutely smash the ball into the net from the right angle of the penalty area.

Clevedon safely saw out the rest of the game to claim the two points, which took them one point clear at the top of the table with a hard-earned 2-1 victory against one of their key rivals to set them up for the big North Somerset FA Vase tie at Portishead on Saturday, October 31.