Ryman Premier
East Thurrock United 2 v 1 Hampton and Richmond
EAST Thurrock United manager John Coventry was delighted after Saturday’s Ryman Premier win at Rookery Hilll, describing his makeshift side’s performance as “just the way you want to win a match.” reports The Thurrock Enquirer.
Rocks have been hit by a series of injuries and fielded centre half Ryan Scott as a makeshift striker against Hampton, who went into the match in second place in the table. His players responded with a terrific, workmanlike display and if, in the final balance, they got the rub of the green with luck and the officials’ decisions, it was no more than their efforts deserved.
The hosts made a flying start and could easily have scored two goals within the first five minutes, as Borough struggled to deal with the windy conditions from the off. The first chance fell to Scott from a corner but he was unable to guide his strike below the bar. The second chance fell to Tom Wraight from three yards out, as Ryan Sammons sent a whipped cross to the back post, but his instinctive strike came back off the underside of the bar and into the arms of grateful keeper Mark Smith.
However, the home got what they deserved n the 24th minute, thanks to a well worked move from a corner when the ball was delivered to the apex of the box and Scott, expertly guided his side-footed effort into the bottom right corner, though Smith may well think he could have done better as he got both hands to the ball, but was only able to palm it into the side-netting.
The climax of an enthralling half in which both sides showed great determination to master difficult conditions came when East Thurrock doubled their lead seconds before the break when Lewis Smith’s superbly flighted free kick came back off the underside of the bar but this time Harry Honesty was on hand to prod the ball home from close range.
There was still time for Hampton to get the ball into the Rocks net before half time, but assistant referee Rhys Battye was on hand to rule out the effort for offside.
But just 30 seconds into the second half Hampton got a goal back when Sammy Knott’s clearance was held up in the wind and the ball was returned back into the box, where Simon Peddie’s attempted clearance looped up and over keeper Lukas Lidakevicius into his own net. Hampton enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, but Rocks, marshalled by a terrific display at centre half by skipper Rickie Hayles, held firm.
On one occasion they cracked and Jerome Federico forced the ball home but his effort was controversially ruled out by assistant referee Robert Claussen’s raised flag.
There was to be an another significant moment ten minutes from time when Charlie Moon’s close range header seemed goalbound but somehow Lidakevicius stretched an arm and pawed the ball away.
The extraordinary save lifted his teammates and helped them see out a great rearguard action and they might even have sneaked a goal with a couple of late breakaways but in the end they saw out the victory to delight boss Coventry, who said: “I thought this was a really hard-working performance by a group of players who are starting to believe in themselves. Sometimes you can win a game comfortably, sometimes you have to work and fight hard, just like we did today and it was a really great way to win a game and get a result I thought we really deserved.”
