Tilbury 3, Stanway Rovers 1

FOLLOWING an opening-day defeat in the Isthmian North, Tilbury had a chance to progress in the FA Cup after their brilliant 4-1 victory over Buckhurst Hill the round prior.

Sam Bantick was the hero that day, scoring a hat trick including an outrageous goal from inside his own half.

However, he was unavailable for selection today due to a red card he was given against Ipswich Wanderers last weekend.

Dan Trendall started in place of Bantick and Igli Metalia also made a first start this season replacing the injured Alfie Fry.

Tilbury came close to opening the scoring early with two efforts from Lewis Manor and Dan Trendall failing to beat the keeper.

But it was Stanway Rovers who took the lead after just 10 minutes as Reece Conway's initial effort was saved and the ball landed kindly at the feet of George Okoye.

The winger made no mistake slotting home into the empty net. The Dockers quickly found a response through Lewis Manor who opened his Tilbury account with a brilliant looping effort that managed to deceive the keeper and get the score back level.

The hosts were somehow denied their second soon after when Dan Trendall was gifted a free header just outside the six-yard box. Trendall's effort deflected off the post and bounced back from the goalkeeper's knee without him knowing too much about it.

Tilbury would take the lead just before halftime as Sam Carter was the first man to react to Macauley Joynes' low corner and Carter reaped the rewards poking the ball into the bottom corner to put The Dockers ahead going into the break.

The visitors had a goal disallowed 10 minutes into the second half as a ball forward went toward the offside Harry Thomas, who ran over the ball and interfered with play, then made its way to the onside George Okoye who ran through and fired the ball past North.

However, the linesman's flag was up quickly and after a quick chat with the referee, the goal was ruled out.

Despite this, Tilbury continued to dominate, extending their lead, once again through a Macauley Joynes corner, this time which found Lewis Manor setting him up for a powerful header and to collect his second goal of the day.

Dockers almost found a fourth to put the game to bed as Alex Akrofi worked his way into a shooting position with some fantastic footwork. His effort was blocked and fell to Jamie Reynolds who was also denied incredibly by Callum Robinson in goal.