Clubs supporting distressed top goalie offering explanations (10)
I believe the answer is:
apologetic
'offering explanations' is the definition.
'clubs supporting distressed top goalie' is the wordplay.
'clubs' becomes 'c' (abbreviation used in card games such as bridge).
'supporting' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, some letters go below others).
'distressed' is an anagram indicator.
'top'+'goalie'='topgoalie'
'topgoalie' with letters rearranged gives 'apologeti'.
'c' put after 'apologeti' is 'APOLOGETIC'.
(Other definitions for apologetic that I've seen before include "Regretfully admitting fault" , "Acknowledging faults" , "Regretful" , "Acknowledging failure" , "Contrite" .)