Thurrock suffer yet another defeat as they slump to the bottom of the league. This was despite going 1-0 in the 5th minute with a marvellous strike by loan signing Alex Osborn.
Tilbury saw Emiel Aiken and Gary Henty threaten to break the deadlock though he best opportunity of the half fell to Sudbury’s James Baker just before the break but he who fired over from six yards.
Dockers came out strong after the break and took the lead on 50 minutes when Emile Aiken was played into the box and crossed for Bradley Barnes to smash home. Within four minutes it was level when good work by the excellent David Emmanuel played in Richard Howell who shot low into the net.
A THOROUGHLY entertaining match ended all square but in controversy as Rocks’ tiggerish midfielder and man-of-the-match Reiss Gilbey was sent off after being adjudged to have brought down last man Alex Dyer, with Richard Jolly stepping up to convert the late, game tying penalty.
Dyer made a greet impact from the bench, dragging his side level after Rocks had taken a 3-1 lead, looking to have the points in the bag.
GRAYS missed the opportunity to collect another three points when they let ten-man Heybridge back into the game to draw at the Scraley Road ground.
Cowley immediately looked more comfortable on this surface. Kenny Beaney winning early exchanges in midfield. Grays were forcing mistakes.
The first challenge is to put things in perspective. Grays are not going to win every game. There will be losses and this could be one of them. There were moments of vulnerability on Wednesday. Hakan will need to be patient with his wingers: Dave Cowley was quiet and Joao Carlos tends to run into defenders, lose the ball and leave the left back very vulnerable. He may get away with that (just) against Ware but Heybridge will exploit that. Having said that, on a lovely pitch, the two of them should be very dangerous.
Busy weekend of football with ten games on over the holiday. It is a bit gloomy for Thurrock, Aveley and East Thurrock but Grays and Tilbury are basking at the top of the table. Early days and by Monday at 5pm, things could be different.
GRAYS went to the top of the table as they carved out a hard fought victory chance against a durable Waltham Forest at the Cricklefield Stadium. It is never pretty at the Forest and this was no exception. The pitch had that Albanian tractor plant feel to it as even early on Grays struggled to control the ball but that didn't stop Dave Cowley putting in a lovely curled pass to Jared Small in the third minute.
SOMETHING is clearly going wrong at Thurrock after their third heavy defeat in eight days saw them slump to second from bottom in the league. It was a fine first half performance by Maidenhead that saw them four up by half time.
The same player stepped up to make it 3-3. With everyone in the ground then expecting the final whistle, the game continued and 2 minutes later, Bansende made room down the right hand side, crossed and Gary Henty from 35 yards rifled in off the crossbar with a stunning effort to steal the game 4-3. The referee blew up shortly after, to the delight of the Tilbury players and to the disappointment of the majority of the 172 in attendance.
YOU COULD see from the look on his face after the match that East Thurrock boss, John Coventry was less than impressed with their performance in losing to Hastings United 2-0 last night. Hastings just avoided the drop last season but looked streets ahead of the Rocks who appeared a pale imitation of the team that flourished in the Ryman Div One North last season.
Some harsh lessons for the borough teams tonight. Margate beat Aveley 3-0; Thurrock are thumped 4-0 and East Thurrock lose 2-0 but heroes of the night are Paul Vaughan's Docker boys as they beat Enfield 4-3.
Robbie Garvey is blaming himself for the poor start to the season but the strikers need to show some potency as the Fleet look to stem the flow. The Rocks hope that is one in the eye for Hastings as they look to build upon their three points at Tooting.
Early on Tom Bird went close for the Ks when he headed over from a right wing cross with four minutes on the clock, while Ellis Remy went close for the hosts up the other end as his header from Donovan Wilson’s cross went over bar, and then he somehow scooped an effort over the bar on the 15-minute mark from close range
Grays performed very well. The team turned up in suits and from that moment they looked like they had turned up for working meaning business. In his post-match interview, Joe Sweeney stressed, time and time again, the good pre-season they had had. Indeed, some players fitness came more into play the longer the game went on. Especially Harry Agombar who looked like he was chomping at the bit not only to get his season underway but also his career which stalled somewhat last season at Barnet.
However, the decisive moment went Rocks' way on 81 minutes. There appeared no danger when Rocks sub Kayan Kalipha, on for Neil Richmond who had worked had without reward, chased a ball down to the bye-line. There was little on but he turned inside and chipped an optimistic cross to the far post over the head of Lehkyz and got unexpected reward when it dropped against the inside of the woodwork and into the net.
