Dereham Town 2-1 Thurrock

Ryman One North

 

 

THURROCK’s promotion charge suffered another blow when they lost their third match in succession against Dereham Town on Saturday.

Both teams started sluggishly on a heavy pitch, with the home side wasting a host of first half chances to open the scoring, letting Mark Stimson’s side off the hook.

But, the hosts did open the scoring three minutes before the interval. A late challenge in the area saw Michael Clunan crash home from the penalty spot to hand Dereham a deserved half-time lead.

Although the penalty award itself, following a Simon King tackle, was met with cries of dismay from the away fans with many of the home fans bemused by the award.

But that lead was short-lived, with Brad Warner netting an equaliser after he able to work space in the opposition’s penalty area.

But a goal from in-form striker Ryan Hawkins restored the advantage, as he finished off a flowing team move.

And Hawkins was in the thick of the action soon after as he was dismissed for two yellow cards, the second for time wasting.

And Stimson was ffrustrated with the penalty award at such an important time in the match.

"Everyone was surprised when the ref gave the home team a penalty when it looked like Simon King had made a great tackle just inside the box.

"It looked like we were taking control and more likely to go onto to the win but Dereham Town broke away and scored the winning goal."

*Thurrock’s New Years Day’s game against Chatham Town was called off after a serious injury to captain Matt Solly.

30 minutes into the game at Ship Lane, with the scoreline 0-0, 26-year-old Solly broke his leg, with the game abandoned soon after.

Thurrock: Walker, L Clark, Waters, Gilman, King, R Clark, Thompson, Spence, Goude, Wall, Sutton