Brentwood Town 2, Tilbury 1

IT was a case of close, but not close enough, as Tilbury's slim hopes of sneaking into the Isthmian North play-off all but mathematically ended with defeat at title-chasing Brentwood, in front of a crowd of 736 on Friday night (11, April).

Tilbury made just two changes to the side that was victorious on Saturday, as Harrison Day and Dan Trendall started in place of Darren Phillips and Kieran Jones who were on the bench.

The visitors got off to the perfect start, taking the lead after just 12 minutes through top scorer, Alex Hernandez.

A free kick was sent in deep toward the back post, where Lewis Clark put the ball back into a dangerous area. The first strike was blocked but Hernandez was on hand to fire home into the bottom corner.

This early spell continued for Tilbury as they came close to doubling their lead three minutes later.

Lindell Stewart linked up well with Dan Trendall on the left-hand side to allow Trendall to cut inside. The forward found space for a shot on the edge of the area, but his effort rolled just wide of the near post, grazing the side netting on its way.

But it didn't take long for the league leaders to get back on level terms as Daniel Ogunleye delivered a brilliant whipped cross from the right wing. The cross took a touch off a Tilbury defender and wrong footed the keeper as it flew into the far corner.

Then just four minutes later, the game was completely flipped on its head as Brentwood took the lead.

The ball was spread out wide to Benas Vaivada who was direct in his approach as he drove towards his full-back. The winger chopped right then left as he skipped past the challenge before drilling his shot past the keeper and into the far bottom corner.

On the stroke of halftime, Vaivada almost doubled his tally when he carried the ball inside and tried his luck from distance, where he was only denied by the frame of the goal.

Vaivada continued to cause problems in the second half, when he was slotted through around the back of the defence. However, despite managing to get his shot away, he tried to find the near side top corner and his effort was fired into the side netting.

Trying to salvage something from the game, a late free kick for Tilbury was sent towards substitute, Darren Phillips. Phillips won his header and the ball was cushioned down to Oli Spooner. The captain took a touch out of his feet and attempted a shot on the swivel from just inside the penalty area, but his strike was dragged just wide of the target.

Dockers are back in action when they host Newmarket Town on Saturday, 19 April.

SQUAD: Middlehurst, Fry, Joynes, Clark L, Clark J, Reynolds, Spooner ©, Stewart (Jones), Day, Hernandez, Trendall (Phillips). SUBS UNUSED: Weston, Terry, Martin.