Bill Robinson reports from The Stadium Hayes Lane…..
IT was Bromley that took the surprise lead after just 4 minutes of play, a through ball was punted forward from defence by the Bromley centre back Tutu Henriques, it looked likely to be cleared but the ball skidded off of the wet surface and beat Rob Swaine allowing Richard Butler to take advantage, he passed the ball out to his left where Steve Ferguson was and he ran into the penalty box and blasted the ball home from 15 yards out.
Thurrock were only behind for eight minutes, as they continued to put pressure on the Bromley defence they were awarded the first corner of the match after 13 minutes, from the corner taken by Matt Bodkin, it was Kenny Clark who got his head onto the ball and headed Thurrock level from around the penalty spot.
Thurrock dominated possession throughout the half and nearly took the lead when Fola Orilonishe squeezed in a shot at the far post from a shot come cross from Leon Lalite in the 33rd minute, the ball went out for a corner and from that Rob Swaine just failed to convert with a glancing header that went just wide.
In the second period it was Thurrock again on top and they took the lead in the 56th minute when David Bryant managed to get onto the end of a neat cross from Craig Pope, he had to beat a defender and the keeper to get his foot onto the ball and but the visitors in front.
This time it was Bromley who hit back after being behind for just 4 minutes when they were awarded a corner wrongly by the referee. From the corner the Thurrock defence allowed Richard Butler to come round the back and win a header unchallenged which levelled the scores.
Thurrock once again mounted attacks on the Bromley goal looking to take the victory and all three points. On one such attack Thurrock found a winner, the ball came into the box from the right were Leon Lalite and David Bryant worked a move that found Leon McKenzie just to their left Leon turned and struck a left footed shot that beat keeper Wes Foderingham at his near post and the ball went in off the post.
Bromley tried to come back and thanks to a toe poke from Rob Swaine, Rob Gillman missed an open goal, the ball came over from a corner, deep into the box, as the ball was headed back into the danger area, it fell to the feet of Gillman in front of an open goal when the long legs of Rob Swaine reached out to toe poke the ball away.
With only two minutes on the clock an incident that involved the referee being accidentally knocked over in a tackle suddenly erupted into handbags when Ryan Ball picked up the ball and threw it at the head of Leon McKenzie, the referee consulted his linesman before issuing Hall with a straight red card.
From the resulting free kick Lee Flynn drove a terrific dipping shot that had Foderingham producing his best to tip the ball over for a corner.
Thurrock played out the remaining minutes with the Thurrock supporters still singing as they had been throughout the whole game until the referee finally blew for full time giving Thurrock three well deserved points and still a hope of reaching the play offs.
