Ryman Div One North
Tilbury 1 v 1 Heybridge Swifts
Report by Anthony Mercer
TILBURY and Heybridge Swifts had to settle for a point each in a stop start battle at Chadfields. The Swifts started brightly with Ade Yusuff curling an excellent strike against the bar and with the home keeper saving with his feet when put clear on goal. A goalmouth scramble then saw an effort from Adam Bolle from close range deflected over the bar. It seemed only a matter of time before Swifts took the lead but the hosts surprisingly struck first on 15 minutes when Lewis Francis’ cross from the left floated over Danny Sambridge’s head into the far post when he was perhaps unsighted by the low sunshine.
Tilbury started to dominate play more as the heavy pitch started to cut up. With both sides not having played for 2 weeks due to the bad weather, understandably the play was a little more sluggish in the second half with Swifts struggling to create any clear cut chances.
On the hour Heybridge striker George Cole did see his dangerous free kick tipped over. Heybridge equalised with nineteen minutes to go when a corner from George Cole was headed into his own net by Reece Conway. Heybridge were then reduced to ten men a few minutes later when Guillem Ramon saw red for something said to the assistant referee.
This made for an uncomfortable last twenty minutes as understandably Tilbury dominated matters with the extra man and Jack Barham just missed a header and crosses being played in and just missed by home strikers. With a last minute volley over the bar from close range from Jack Carlile, the hosts missed an opportunity to win and Swifts were grateful for a point in the end
The final whistle went and Tilbury slipped a place to twelfth in the league, now 5 points outside the play offs.
The Dockers travel to AFC Hornchurch on Tuesday night for the rearranged league game.
Tilbury: Lee Butcher, Conor Mead, Reece Conway, Danny Smith, Joe Nightingill, Toch Singh (Danny Norton 60), Lewis Francis (Kurt Smith 76), Jack Carlile, Jack Barham, Lewis Jaggs (Neil Richmond 88), Reece Hewitt
Scorer – Lewis Francis (15′)
Heybridge Swifts: Danny Sambridge, Lewis Dark, Guillem Ramon, Harry Morgan, Alieu Njie, Philip Anderson, Reece Grant (Marley Andrews 78), Lewis Godbold, Adam Adeoye Yusuff, George Cole, Adam Bolle
Scorer – Reece Conway (Own Goal 71′)
