Thurrock 3, Dorchester Town 1

THURROCK got back to business with this fine Blue Square South win at Ship Lane on Saturday, the only cloud on the day being the dismissal of young centre-back Rob Swaine.

After the disappointment of being knocked out of the FA Cup last weekend, it was important that Thurrock built on their previous back-to-back league wins and Fleet did not disappoint.

From the start, the home side put the pressure on Dorchester.

Greg Linoln crossed to Che Stadhart after four minutes, his over-head kick was parried by Darren Behcet back into his path and when Stadhart squared to Darryl Plummer, the ex-Southend man's delicate chip found the back of the net.

Debutant Craig Hughes had a chance to increase the lead in the 24th minute but headed wide after good work from Lee Flynn.

However Hughes did manage to grab a debut goal in the 41st minute as he chased Brian Dutton's back-pass, Goalkeeper Behcet kicked the ball straight at Hughes and into the net.

On the brink of half time, Swaine entered the book for a foul on Wesley Fogdon, and with ten minutes gone in the second half, his foul on the same player earned him a second booking and a red card.

In the 61st minute, Dorchester looked to use the extra man to their advantage and when Alex Brown volleyed Charlie Henry's cross into the back of the net and it looked like game on.

However, less than 60 seconds later, a Lincoln free kick from the right was flicked on by substitute Leon McKenzie to Phil Anderson at the back post, and his cross was headed in by Stadhart to put the home side 3-1 up.

Dorchester pressed for goals late on and Browne and Jones Awuah were twice denied by Fleet keeper David Blackmore, as well as Henry having a goal chalked off for offside.

However, it wasn't to be and Thurrock, who owed much to man-of-the-match Matt Paine, stretched their winning run to three League games.

Blue Square South. Up to and inc Sat, Oct 6

  P W D L F A +/- Pts 1 Lewes 11 8 3 0 24 9 +15 27 2 Eastbourne Borough 11 8 3 0 22 10 +12 27 3 Bath City 11 6 3 2 16 7 +9 21 4 Newport County 11 6 3 2 15 6 +9 21 5 Weston-super-Mare 11 6 1 4 23 16 +7 19 6 Bishop's Stortford 11 5 4 2 21 14 +7 19 7 Fisher Athletic 11 6 1 4 17 16 +1 19 8 Bromley 11 5 3 3 20 16 +4 18 9 Havant & Waterlooville 11 5 3 3 17 13 +4 18 10 Hampton & Richmond Borough 11 5 3 3 20 17 +3 18 11 Eastleigh 11 5 1 5 15 16 -1 16 12 Basingstoke Town 11 4 2 5 15 17 -2 14 13 Cambridge City 11 3 4 4 19 18 +1 13 14 Hayes & Yeading United 11 3 4 4 12 15 -3 13 15 Welling United 11 4 1 6 12 16 -4 13 16 Thurrock 11 4 1 6 15 20 -5 13 17 Dorchester Town 11 3 2 6 12 14 -2 11 18 Braintree Town 11 2 4 5 7 13 -6 10 19 Maidenhead United 11 1 5 5 16 20 -4 8 20 Bognor Regis Town 11 2 0 9 11 26 -15 6 21 St Albans City 11 1 3 7 8 23 -15 6 22 Sutton United 11 1 2 8 9 24 -15 5