GRAYS Athletic's hopes of improving their hopes of promotion from the Isthmian North with a win at struggling Hullbridge Sports today have been dashed by the legacy of recent storms which damaged Sports ground to an extent it has been deemed unsafe and so the fixture was called off.

No such problems for third-placed Aveley who go into their home match with sixth-placed Dereham on the back of an 11 match unbeaten run.

The Millers drew with second-placed Canvey last weekend at Parkside in front of an impressive derby crowd o 679 and while that is unlikely to be matched for a successive home game at Parkside Millers will still be expecting a decent crowd for what could be another vital match.

Managerless Tilbury, who enjoyed a 2-1 midweek win against Bury Town, will again be under the guidance of caretaker Eljay Worrell for the visit to Chadfields of Maldon & Tiptree - another side who had high expectations at the start of the season but who have struggled to live up to that promise and sit in mid table.

Following last weekend's departure of manager Keith Rowland, Tilbury say they will not be rushing into an appointment and would be supporting their new player-boss for the foreseeable future.

In the Isthmian Premier bottom club East Thurrock United will entertain Carshalton Athletic at Rookery Hill.

Relegation looks likely for the Rocks but general manager Phil Crowe has given a philosophical interview about the club's position, saying financial limitations are largely responsible to the plight of the club but the long term is to secure the future.

He said: "The budget is very low for the level we are playing at, there is no hiding that, there are teams in our league with probably four times what we have.

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"We are working hard to increase the budget, which we have done, but bottom line is we can't put the club at risk financially as has happened in the past.

"We certainly don't want to go down, but our main objective is to have a sustainable football club that the community and supporters can be proud of.

"If the worst happened we would regroup and certainly work hard to get the club back to the highest level we could, we are planning pre-season already, we believe in our management team and we will learn and be stronger as a club."