Cambridge City 6, Tilbury 2

TILBURY, who dented Cambridge's new ground celebration in December 2024, were paid back in spades with a heavy Isthmian North defeat on Tuesday (15 September).

Following a two-week break from action, Dockers made just one change to the starting 11 that defeated Walthamstow, as keeper Billy Lawlor returned from injury to replace Connor Wheatley.

There was little to suggest what would follow as Tilbury opened the scoring after 22 minutes, when a poor back-pass from Jaiden Babalola was latched onto by Soumen Nandi, who took the ball around goalkeeper James Philp to net his first goal of the season.

However, their lead did not last long, as a corner from the right-hand side was met by Jayden Randell, who rose highest out of anyone in the area, looping his header over Lawlor for the equaliser.

Lilywhites took the lead on the half hour mark, when a long ball forward caused an error in the Dockers rearguard, gifting Charlie Royle an open goal.

On the stroke of half time, City extended their lead through Charlie Norman, who emphatically fired home from close range after Josh Taylor cleared an initial effort off the line.

In the second half, just before the hour mark, the ball fell to Freddie Hockey, who shifted into space and calmly slotted his shot into the bottom left corner for Cambridge's fourth of the day.

Tilbury managed to pull a goal back when new signing Rasheed Salau battled brilliantly to snatch the ball from home captain Jayden Randell and Philp and score on his debut.

Unfortunately, the goal would not lead to a comeback, as Cambridge scored again with 10 minutes to go, when a clipped cross was not fully cleared. This allowed Sam Chaney to arrive at the back post and fire past Lawlor to round up a miserable return for the stopper.

In the dying moments, there was still time for the hosts to put a cherry on top, when Cambridge scored from another corner. The delivery was sent towards the back post, where the ball was headed back across for Lewis Hayes to bundle the ball over the line.

Dockers are back in action on Saturday (19 September) when they play host to Little Oakley (3pm).

SQUAD: Lawlor, Nzengo, Rea, Taylor, Reeve, Elliott, Winn ©, Toussaint (Brocklebank), Allen (Townsend), Stimson (Salau), Nandi (Fry). SUBS UNUSED: Wheatley. GOALS: Soumen Nandi, Rasheed Salau.