Aveley 2, Ilford 0
MILLERS were far from pretty in pink but nevertheless eked out a Ryman Division One North win on Saturday in front of a crowd of 534 who turned out to support the club’s charity day.

Admission was free and Aveley might have hoped to serve up a feast of attractive football to draw some of the first time supporters back, but the match – particularly in the first half – was low quality.

Playing in a pink strip in support of breast cancer charities Aveley made hard work of it and ought to have gone in at half time behind.

That they didn’t was down to referee Lloyd Wood, a frequent referee of borough teams and a man who likes to be in the spotlight. He failed to award Ilford the most obvious of penalties and in the second half compounded his shocking performance by giving Aveley a spot kick for something that only he saw.

Millers were strangely lethargic in the opening minutes and found themselves frequently backpedalling to deal with the direct pace of Chuk Duru.

The home side rarely threatened, though Nicky Wettner went close with a shot midway through the half.

Mr Wood made his first contentious intervention when he booked James Hughes for a tackle on Ryan Doyle, yet he allowed many far worse challenges to go unpunished.

Aveley’s pacy winger Joao Carlos, who was kicked from pillar to post with no intervention from Mr Wood, dipped in and out of the game and certainly didn’t see enough of the ball, though he got in an angled shot which Robert Budd saved comfortably.

The game might have turned in Ilford’s favour on 35 minutes when a lack of concentration allowed Duru to get behind the home defence and he was about to pull the trigger when he appeared to be pulled back and then tripped by Sean Francis. It was as clear cut a penalty claim as you are likely to see but Mr Wood, who was well-placed, waved away the Ilford protests.

The visitors were incensed and rightly so. They stepped up the pace in the closing stages of the half and might well have got the goal they probably deserved when a big boot from Budd again got the home defence in a tangle and as Sam Holloway and James Marrable got in a muddle Duru nipped in between them but was unfortunate to slip and he didn’t get quite enough purchase on his strike, allowing Holloway the chance to recover and get the ball away.

And there was still time for more nervous home defending and Chris Thomas was unlucky to see his deflected, angled lob fall into the side-netting with Marrable well beaten.

Ilford started the second half where they had left off the first and Danny Berg flashed a header wide before Duru sprang the home offside trap and bore down on goal, only for Marrable to race off his line and pull off a fine save as the Ilford man struck at goal.

Aveley were beginning to threaten though and from a corner on 53 minutes they got the opening goal, Wayne Vaughan heading goalwards, though his effort appeared to take a deflection that took it past Budd.

Ilford probably felt the luck was against them and they were certainly hard done by three minutes later when a ball was played into their box and cleared. No-one appealed and play was continuing but Mr Wood claimed centre stage again by point to the spot.

It was a bizarre decision but Vaughan wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth and, after John Maskell and John Hyatt got a talking too for flashing handbags at each other on the edge of the box, he comfortably slotted the spot kick home.

Ilford were far from done and Marrable once again denied them with a fine reflex save, pushing Berg’s snapshot past the post.

And the keeper was called into the action again when James Hughes breached the offside trap once again and bore down on the keeper. Marrable made the required stop but the ball broke for Berg who looked to have all the time in the world to role the ball into an empty net but he dithered and Aveley defenders got back to somehow scramble the ball away.

The miss finally knocked the wind out of the visitors and the closing stages were played out with Aveley looking dominant. Carlos went close with a superbly angled close range volley that crashed against the upright and then substitute Junior Dadson spurned a great chance to score from close range.

Striker Petri Elbi, who has been out of favour recently, came on to add to the striking mix but the Albanian couldn’t find a goal – though he did pick up a booking for a clumsy tackle.

Millers will be happy with the result and their fundraising efforts for a worthy charity, but despite being elevated to third place by the win they know they will have to give much better all-round performances if they are to mount a serious promotion challenge.

Aveley: James Marrable, Ryan Doyle, Sam Holloway, Christian Wheeler, John Maskell, Sean Francis, Ben Bradbury (Junior Dadson), Nicky Wettner (Matthew Johnson), Joel Barnett (Petri Elbi), Wayne Vaughan, Joao Carlos. Subs not used: Paul White. Bradley Barnes.

Ilford: Robert Budd, Craig Leader (Andy Richardson), Anton Trice, Dean Pennant, John Hyatt, Tony Russell, Danny Berg, Harry Chalk, Chuk Duru (Shamirez Darr), Chris Thomas, James Hughes. Subs not used: Darren Spinks, Ian Cooper, Victor Omeghin.

Ryman Division One North, up to and inc Sat, Oct 11

  P W D L F A +/- Pts 1 Brentwood Town 11 8 3 0 22 6 +16 27 2 Waltham Abbey 11 8 2 1 26 9 +17 26 3 Aveley 11 6 5 0 18 5 +13 23 4 East Thurrock United 9 7 1 1 24 12 +12 22 5 Concord Rangers 11 6 2 3 20 12 +8 20 6 Redbridge 11 5 4 2 21 11 +10 19 7 Ware 9 6 1 2 21 12 +9 19 8 Leyton 11 6 1 4 23 16 +7 19 9 Wingate & Finchley 10 5 3 2 20 11 +9 18 10 Maldon Town 11 5 2 4 18 16 +2 17 11 Northwood 11 5 2 4 14 12 +2 17 12 Tilbury 12 5 1 6 21 17 +4 16 13 Cheshunt 10 5 0 5 15 16 -1 15 14 Enfield Town 10 4 1 5 21 23 -2 13 15 Thamesmead Town 10 3 2 5 14 18 -4 11 16 Potters Bar Town 11 2 4 5 13 14 -1 10 17 Chatham Town 11 3 1 7 14 20 -6 10 18 Great Wakering Rovers 11 2 4 5 10 21 -11 10 19 Ilford 11 2 1 8 6 21 -15 7 20 Waltham Forest 12 1 2 9 8 30 -22 5 21 Hillingdon Borough 11 1 1 9 7 27 -20 4 22 Witham Town 11 1 1 9 14 41 -27 4