Tilbury 1 Whitehawk 2

FA Trophy First Round 13th September 2022

ATT 85

Following a week's break from football due to the loss of our long reigning monarch, Tilbury were back in action as a lovely light drizzle created a slick playing surface under the lights.

Their opponents, Whitehawk, had made the trip from Brighton for this FA Trophy fixture after coming off the back of a 3-0 victory against Three Bridges.

The hosts'starting 11 was unchanged from their eyecatching display against local rivals, East Thurrock United, meaning Jaggs was awarded his 100th appearance for the Dockers.

Before commencing, the teams partook in a minute's silence in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away peacefully last week.

The game started quickly with the visitors looking to play percentage football by getting the ball up to the height in attack. The 4th minute saw a quick exchange between O'Toole and Charlie Harris, as O'Toole, with his back to goal, turned his man and fired a shot off that the keeper parried. The striker was first to react, drilling in a low ball across the face of goal which was met by Ryan Warwick who attempted a back heel, but the effort didn't have enough to pace on it, and Thackaway easily claimed it.

It didn't take long before Tilbury were able to construct some dangerous looking attacks of their own, as in the 13th minute, Plunkett fizzed a pass into Chris Millar who played a quick one two with Billy Harris before releasing the midfielder into space on the right-hand side. Harris found the time to have a shot, but his effort hit the side netting and he was unable to find the target.

In the 30th minute, Whitehawk looked to be constructing a hopeful attack, however, some intelligent work from Adam Topley was rewarded by a brilliant interception to kickstart a counterattack for the men in black and white. The number 8 was well inside his own half when he won possession, but that didn't stop him from driving his team up the pitch. The Whitehawk defence continued to retreat giving Topley space to exploit.

Despite having Salter and Yeboah either side of him, Topley unleashed a rocket of a strike from 25 yards out that dipped beautifully to beat the helpless goalkeeper, and to top off a stunning goal. The visitors came back from half time a completely rejuvenated team in the hopes of advancing in this cup competition. It only took them 6 minutes to find an equaliser as Harry Shooman dug out a deep cross that was cleared by the Tilbury defence, but only as far as Charlie Lambert.

The winger scuffed his first-time volley into the ground; however, the surface made the safe quite difficult for Thakaway, who got a touch on it, but his touch wasn't strong enough to divert the ball from goal. Just 7 minutes later, Whitehawk scored a goal to put them ahead and into a good position in this cup fixture. Long throw-ins proved to be a nightmare for the Dockers defence once again as Shooman's throw was launched into the penalty area for Joe Shelley to rise above his man and produce a looping header from the front post, which was sent over the stranded goalkeeper and into the back of the net to give the away side the lead.

The Dockers were given one last opportunity to find a lifeline back into this game as a perfect through ball was sent over the Whitehawk defence to find a darting run by Alex Clark. The substitute brought the ball down using some improvisation as it came down off the winger's back. The goalkeeper was quickly out to put pressure on Clark, who attempted a cheeky lob over the outrushing keeper. However, his effort was just narrowly wide of the post.

That was all the action at the EMR Stadium, and the Dockers now find themselves out of three cup competitions despite their unbeaten run in the league.