East Thurrock United 3, Kingstonian 3

THE footballing gods for once shone kindly on East Thurrock who gave away a two goal lead but came back fighting to win a Bet Victor Isthmian Premier point on Saturday thanks to two own goals and a fluke!

The Rocks made a bright start and pressed their visitors back through the early stages and they were good value for the opening goal on 13 minutes though it came with a stroke of luck when Mitch Gilby put Tom Kavanagh under pressure as he attempted to deal with a bouncing ball and the Ks defender sliced it over his own keeper Rob Tolfrey into the net.

The first half continued in much the same vein with East Thurrock dominating play and they were rewarded with a second goal on 35 minutes when Ben Marlow looped in a cross from wide on the right and from the moment it sliced off his boot it was destined for the net, going in high off the post as it caught Tolfrey off his line as he went to deal with the expected ball, not what was delivered.

The third goal of the half also owed something to luck, to the misfortune of Rocks keeper Jack Giddens who seemed to be dealing comfortably with a shot from a 40th minute free kick that went straight at him but somehow he failed to gather it correctly and it bounced off his chest into the path of Sean Clohessy who deserved credit for following up what appeared a lost cause and belting the ball home from close range.

After the break Kingstonian showed their mettle while Rocks lost momentum, though they thought they had grabbed a third when Frankie Merrifield slotted the ball home but he was rightly ruled to have been offside.

In the 60th minute the visitors were back on level terms when Eddie Dsane passed the ball through to Dan Hector, whose cross was tapped home by Clohessy who once again appeared in the right place at the right time.

And they took the lead with 14 minutes to go when an excellent move involving Aaron Lamont and Dan Hector was finished off brilliantly by Hector when he rifled his shot past Giddens.

That stirred East Thurrock from their lethergy and they got the point they deserved three minutes from time when sub Matthew Price put the home defence under pressure at the end of a quick break and in making an attempted challenge Kavanagh slid the ball past Rob Tolfrey.