Cliff Akurang

Cliff Akurang

Born 27 February 1981 (Age 28 at debut)

Position: Forward

(Diamonds player #323)

Total appearances 37 – 8 goals

(35 League, 1 FA Cup, 1 FA Trophy)

Debut:

8 August 2009 (Home Salisbury City)

Final game:

3 May 2010 (Away Oxford United)

Cliff had spells with the youth teams at Chelsea and Luton Town before starting out as an 18 years old striker with Chesham United. In the summer of 2000, he joined Hitchin Town before moving to Thurrock the following season. In some 104 appearances, he scored 38 times in a three year spell, but a move to Heybridge Swifts in 2005 saw him come to the notice of several League clubs after scoring 24 goals in 16 games. A loan spell to Dagenham & Redbridge followed in November 2005, with a permanent move in the summer. After helping Dagenham to the Conference title, he returned to Thurrock on loan in January 2007, before joining Histon in May.

Cliff joined Barnet in January 2008, scoring 10 times in 45 appearances, although he finished the final two months of the season on loan at Weymouth. Diamonds manager Justin Edinburgh brought Cliff in on a season long loan on 31 July 2009. He made his debut in the opening day defeat by Salisbury City at Nene Park, and scored his first goal for the club against Eastbourne Borough the following Saturday. Although making 37 appearances for the club, he only made 16 starts. The eight goals he scored were all from his opening 18 games. He returned to Barnet at the end of the season, but was released, joining Conference South side Thurrock on 9 July 2010. Cliff then moved to fellow Conference South side Maidenhead United on 3 November 2010, but remained there less than four months before joining Braintree Town on 28 February 2011. He left at the end of the season, and joined fellow Conference South side Chelmsford City on 1 July 2011. After a single season with the Clarets, Cliff left to join Conference North side Bishop’s Stortford on 17 August 2012, but after two appearances, he failed to agree terms and returned to Chelmsford City just two weeks later. After initially agreeing similar terms back with Chelmsford, he made a dramatic late switch to join Conference South side Boreham Wood on 30 August 2012. On 31 March 2013, Cliff joined Isthmian Premier side Canvey Island, maintaining his dual registration until the end of the season. On 17 July 2013, Cliff rejoined Conference South side Bishop’s Stortford on a one year deal. After a single season, Cliff joined Isthmian Premier side Leiston on 16 June 2014 in a player/coach role. During mid-September 2014, he was released by Leiston by mutual agreement after 3 goals in 9 games, and joined Conference South side Hayes and Yeading United on 15 September 2014. He made a single appearance there, with few more at Maldon & Tiptree before joining Canvey Island in 2016. He then moved to newly-formed Coggeshall United ahead of the 2017-18 season, firstly as player-manager before effectively hanging up his boots to become chairman-manager there.

His Wikipedia page is here.

Appearances

2009/2010 – squad number 25