THE first forty five minutes was very mediocre with neither keeper having to do more than feeding the ball out to their defence. With the greater part of attacks breaking down in midfield.
Thurrock eventually opened the scoring in the 42nd minute with an own goal fro the Brentwood skipper James Love. The goal came with a cross from the right by Loui Hazelwood, he drove the cross in low and hard and with Charlie Stimson on his shoulder James Love could do nothing but deflect the ball into his own net from just a yard out.
THE Millers threw away a one goal lead in the final nine minutes of their local derby with Tilbury to come away pointless following a 2-1 defeat. Two goals from Danny Francis – the first in the 86th minute and second in the 95th minute from the penalty spot – ensured that the Dockers were victorious over their local rivals, seeing the Millers succumb to their second defeat of the season.
A MIXED day for the clubs from the borough. Thurrock thump Brentwood; Tilbury steal it at the death against local rivals, Aveley. In the Ryman Premier: The Rocks slump to their second defeat in a row and Grays come up against a very strong Kingstonians.
GRAYS will feel they let go of three points as a James Robinson free header earned Billericay a draw at Mill Field. Both teams played entertaining, spirited football that went from end to end for ninety minutes. Chuck Duru's's first foray down the right was stopped by a great tackle from former Blue, George Beavan who then passed to (you guessed it) Glenn Poole.
A HUGELY controversial goal settled this game dominated by East Thurrock but they were unable to find a cutting edge and were undone by Alan Bray’s 81st minute strike. Rocks made a fluent start to the match with some attractive passing pegging Hampton back and eventually it unpicked the visiting defence to present Lea Dawson with a shooting chance but he scuffed his effort straight at keeper Rodney Chiweshe.
DESPITE some apprehension Thurrock breezed through this first hurdle of the FA Cup. The visitors came close in the second minute when they rattled the Thurrock cross bar but after that Thurrock controlled the game throughout.
AVELEY waltzed into the next round of the F.A. Cup after demolishing a hapless Waltham Forest at Mill Field. It took just three minutes for the Millers to open the scoring when Bradley Thomas flicked in a corner from Teddy Nesbitt in what was to be an utterly dominant first half of football from the home side.
TILBURY made progress against a stubborn Kirkley and Pakefield side to make progress in the FA Cup on a warm Saturday afternoon. Tilbury were able to include in form Lee Weemes and Joe Christou to the line up following defeat at Chatham on Bank Holiday Monday. On a sunny afternoon Tilbury were out the blocks after only 35 seconds when Weemes effort was well saved. From the resulting corner Rimmel Daniel headed against the in side of the post and away to safety.
THE Fleet started the game brightly after Striker Charlie Stimson rounded the Romford keeper after just 5 minutes to give Thurrock the lead. Thurrock playing in their all white away strip continued to dominate the opening period before losing experienced defender Rob Gilman to injury around the 20 minute mark. This proved to be a huge loss as Romford picked up their game and equalised on 26 minutes, keeper Reece Ottley could only parry a cross shot directly to a Romford player who had got in front of substitute Hazelwood to level. Things got worse for Thurrock just 2 minutes later when the Thurrock defence hesitated and allowed a Romford cross to zip across the area for Richardson to latch on and give them a 2-1 lead and that's how it remained at half time.
AVELEY secured a third successive Ryman One North victory with a 3-1 win away at Brentwood thanks to goals from Jason Twum and a brace from Junior Appiah. After naming an unchanged side for their 1-0 win over Romford 48 hours earlier, Justin Gardner made four changes this time around for the bank holiday trip to Brentwood.
GRAYS picked themselves up well after Saturday's derby disappointment at East Thurrock and thoroughly deserved a draw, if not more, from this clash against a fellow newly promoted side who have also made an excellent start to the Ryman Premier season. It was a game of few chances in which both defences dominated and chances were at a premium. Grays' debutant Phil Anderson, who came in for dropped centre back Junior Baker, looked particularly impressive for the Blues.
EAST Thurrock made it a bank holiday weekend of double delight with a hard-fought Ryman Premier win at Carshalton where sub Luke Wanadio came off the bench to grab both goals for the visitors – who might have found the game irretrievable had the Robins made more of their first half dominance. After their energy-sapping exploits in the rain against Grays Athletic on Saturday Rocks looked a little leg-weary right from the off – perhaps not surprising after the lack of continuity in pre-season and a number of their new signings being short of match practice.
The Rocks build upon a win on Saturday with a great away victory against Carshalton. A winner by Jason Twum sees the job done for the Millermen as they notch up another fine victory. The Fleet will be very disappointed with their result. They never really got going.
BILLY Holland’s 80th minute penalty for Aveley was all that separated the sides at a rain soaked Mill Field against a dogged Romford. The Aveley captain converted from the spot after the referee had awarded a penalty for handball by Paul Clayton in what was a poor game in tricky conditions.
TILBURY made it two consecutive victories with 3-1 victory over Brentwood Town. Despite the game never being in doubt, the players on both sides endured heavy conditions with the persistent rain. Tilbury made just one change from the midweek win over Burnham with Lee Weemes going out due to injury, giving Piers Wixon his competitive debut for the Dockers.
