Tilbury 1, Hemel Hempstead 2

Though Tuesday's (11 July) friendly with National League South side, Hemel Hempstead Town ended in defeat it was a great night's work from the Dockers who are three levels behind their visitors in the non-league pyramid.

The Dockers put out a strong side with some notable names missing through injury, including McQueen, Miles and Spooner.

The visitors started the game the stronger of the two sides, coming close just six minutes in when a ball out wide was fed down the line. The winger dug out a cross to the back stick where it was met by a Hemel attacker, but the striker could not find the target as he attempted to direct the ball into the far corner.

Tilbury continued to soak up pressure early in the match but were able to construct a well worked chance of their own, getting the ball out wide to Johnny Ashman who saw his strike blocked to win his side a corner.

The Tudors did eventually find the net though, when in the 40th minute a long ball forward was flicked on to the striker who slotted the ball into the bottom corner, but the linesman raised his flag early to disallow the goal.

Just a minute later, Hemel had another chance after their high press won them the ball in a dangerous area.

The eventual shot came from the left winger who tried to find the far corner, but Anthony Page did very well to beat away the effort. Page was called to action once again in the 44th minute as the away side turned up the pressure.

The resulting corner was an in-swinger that made its way to a Hemel man, who got across his marker to head home from close range on the stroke of half time. The Dockers found their equaliser in the 57th minute with a slick passing move in the middle of the park to cut open the Tudor resistance.

The ball was slotted though to Izaih Antoine who drilled his strike into the bottom corner to top off a brilliant Tilbury move. Tilbury would come close with a few half-chances, but the final goal of the game went the way of the visitors.

A long ball in the 78th minute saw North rush out but being beaten to the ball by the attacker, who knocked the ball into the stranded net to give his side the lead with little time remaining. The hosts came close to finding the equaliser in the dying moments when Antoine battled to win the ball back high up the pitch and feeding it inside to a trialist.

The midfielder tried bending his strike into the corner and as it headed for the net, the Hemel goalkeeper did exceptionally well to save and keep a hold of the ball to secure his side's win. That was all the action at Chadfields as a very good performance from The Dockers against a top opposition was filled with many positives to take from the game.

Tilbury are back in action this Friday, 14 July hosting Stansted FC - 7.45pm kick off.