Thurrock 1-2 Dereham Town
From Ship Lane
Ryman One North
THURROCK'S automatic promotion hopes were dealt a big blow as they were beaten 2-1 at home by Dereham Town.
Ross Wall's late intervention was not enough for Mark Stimson's side and it now seems they are set for another play-off battle.
Thurrock started brightly, boosted by their win at play-off rivals Cray Wanderers in the week, but they conceded five minutes before half time.
Fraser Blake-Tracey scored the goal to dent the home fans' moods, with the hosts looking to change that at the start of the second half.
Lewwis Spence made his first home appearance since the back end of last year as Stimson tried to affect a turnaround, but Dereham struck next.
Luke Tuttle made it 2-0 to put play-off hopefuls Dereham in charge and that was how it stayed until the final 10 minutes.
Wall grabbed a goal back but it wasn't enough, with the result leaving Fleet 12 points adrift of Sudbury with just six matches remaining.
Thurrock: Madden, Morgan, Clark, Baker, Sutton, Toner, Agombar (Francis), Wall, Gleed, Cole (Winn) Cowley
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