Ryman Premier
East Thurrock United 0 v 5 Met Police
A DREADFUL day at the office saw East Thurrock ship five goals, have David Bryan sent off in the interval and boss Covo sent to the stand.
Early on the game was littered with unforced errors as both teams took a while to get into their stride.
The first chance of the game came in the 6th minute when Reece Harris turned the Met defence inside out, he shot and the Met defence scrambled the ball away for a corner.
The Rocks played an expansive game that used the full width of the pitch.
The Met slowly found their way into the game but the chances lacked bite. At the other end, the Rock looked like they were just waiting for slip-up to pounce.
A nasty foul saw Met player Ryan James go into the book.
Lewis Smith looked like the most dangerous Rocks’ player but it always looked like Reece Harris who might score.
At the other end, Nicky Symons commanded his goal with authority.
Play stopped for a short time after what the late great Arthur Montford would have described as a "bit of a stramash".
Rocks had a series of chances: A Simon Peddie header went straight at the keeper but it was Met who opened the scoring in the 42nd minute when Charlie Collins slipped the ball home from close range.
A minute later, things got worse when Bradley Hudson-Odoi was brought down in the box. Charlie Collins put the pen away.
Both Simon Peddie and David Bryant were booked late on in what was a miserable 45 minutes for the Rocks.
As the players lined up for the second half, David Bryant received a second yellow card and so was sent off as it appeared he made a comment to the referee.
The Rocks now faced a huge uphill battle but they were rushing their game while Met were taking their time and picking their spot.
It got worse and worse for East Thurrock as Darren Brown and then Jay Lovett scored the fourth and fifth for Met Police.
The crowd drifted away, East Thurrock put it down to experience as they head into the festive period.
East Thurrock United: Symons N, Sammons R, Stephen T, Peddie S, Goodacre P, Wood B,Bryant D, Parmenter R (Paxman J 52), Higgins S, Smith L,Harris R
Subs not used:, Phillips D, Anderson T, Ngandu J, Connor W
Met Police: Searle S, Salmon W, Lovett J, Crook B, Sutherland S, Bartley R, Taylor E, James R (Ahamed N 51),, Collins C, Pattison M, Hudson-Odoi B.
Subs not used: Ricardo J, Brown D, Knight J, Tarr S.
Ref: T.Ramsey
Att: 155
