Ryman League 1 North goes Tilbury's way (From Thurrock Gazette)

Graham Chester sees his Tilbury stars put two past Waltham Abbey

10:12am Monday 30th March 2009 in News

Ryman League Division 1 North Tilbury 2 Waltham Abbey 0 TILBURY faced fourth place Waltham Abbey on Saturday. The Dockers - on the back of their midweek 1-0 victory against Brentwood Town - saw their boss Graham Chester with selection concerns.

Chris Stowe, Daniel Smith, Manlee Brown and Rickie Hayles were all ruled out as was regular striker - Rashid Kamara.

Dockers skipper Jamie Wallace played up front alongside Michael Begg with Jason Fontaine taking a supporting roll. Courtney Mclean in for the injured Daniel Smith and Zubair Haleem gots the nod for the No 7 Shirt.

The first piece of goal-mouth action was in the 26th minute when Abbey’s front man Harry Elmes broke through the Dockers defence beating the off-side trap, with just Andy Hall to beat Elmes shot was blocked by the advancing Hall who has been in fine form for Tilbury this season.

Four minutes later the Dockers won a corner, the ball driven in and cleared by Jordan Bostock only to the edge of the area where Jason Fontaine was waiting to drill the ball back into the 6 yard area and onto the head of Nathan Philip who scored with a glancing header into the net, The Abbots looking for an equaliser come close to squaring things up in the 32nd minute.

Marc Sontag’s blistering effort from outside the box saw Andy Hall rise high with an acrobatic save to push the ball over.

Billy Holland with 20 league and cup goals this season for the Abbots sets off down the left and into the box, but Courtney Mclean - playing a sweeper role - cleared any danger for the Dockers to keep the score 1-0 at the break.

In the second period Michael Begg continues to work hard up front for the Dockers, as he chases down every loose ball putting the visitors under pressure.

Dockers looking to extend their lead, Jamie Wallace from 25 yards out blasts the ball into the bottom right corner, but Waltham Abbey’s keeper Richard Hayward down low to make a good save.

After 66 minutes Wallace worked well down the right hand-side and found Jason Fontaine who swung the ball into the path of Michael Begg. Begg skilfully slid the ball across goal and into the path of Wallace with just Hayward to beat, Wallace strikes the ball well, but Hayward in fine form to block the shot with his legs and out for a Tilbury corner.

Tilbury extends their lead in the 72nd minute.

Andy Hall took a goal-kick and launched the ball long over the head of Abbot’s last defender Steve Sheehan, allowing Greg Cohen to get behind the Abbot’s defence.

Assistant Referee Mr Stanley flagged for offside forgetting momentary that you can not be offside from a goal kick.

But match official Mr Rubery - realising his assistant’s error - waved play on.

Cohen showed his maturity wass not affected by the Linesman’s error and played to the whistle.

He drove forward into the area and planted the ball into the net.

As the clock ticks down and into injury time, the Abbot’s continued to press the Dockers defence. Joe Keith and Junior Baker combined well to defuse any further attempts before the Match Official Mr Rubery calls time.

Once again The Dockers showing their strength in depth, even with key players missing prove that they have an array of talent that are able to perform individually as well as within a unit.

Man of the Match: Michael Begg – Caused panic in the Abbot’s defence.

Tilbury FC: Andy Hall, Courtney Mclean, Joe Keith, Nathan Philip, Junior Baker, Jason Fontaine, Zubair Haleem, Michael Black, Michael Begg, Jamie Wallace (Capt), Greg Cohen Subs: Dean Stannard , Lucien Ntolla, Umaru Turay, Joe Tousant , Oliver Gee-Howe’s.

Waltham Abbey FC: Richard Hayward, Steve Sheeham, Denny Webb, Jordan Bostock, Dave Ayres, Lee White, Luke Power, James Elmes, Billy Holland, Harry Elmes, Marc Sontag, Subs: Aaron Gayle, Tony Tillbrook, Danny Morgan, Dean Morgan, George Chanda.

Att: 78