Tilbury 0, Maldon & Tiptree 1

TILBURY caretaker manager Kurt Smith was in upbeat mood after watching his charges lose to a late penalty at Chadfields on Saturday, but is already looking forward to his team bouncing back on Tuesday night (10 January) when Dockers entertain play-off chasing Stowmarket Town.

After the match Smith said: "I was pleased with the performance, I think we were unlucky not to come away with something but there was definitely something to build on today and plenty of people put their bodies on the line."

In contrast to Smith, who has previous run sides on a managerial basis , his op[posite number in the Maldon dug-out was vastly experienced one time England manager Peter Taylor, who is working something of a turnaround for the Jammers.

This was his third match in charge and it produced a third successive 1-0 win.

Kurt Smith

The overcast, grey skies at the Tilbury EMR Stadium perhaps reflected the mood of the home side, as their recent run of form had seen them slip into the bottom four of the Isthmian League North and veteran manager John Coventry was sacked after the previous match.

The windy conditions and difficult, bobbly pitch didn't help either side as they looked to make their presence felt in the opening exchanges.

New Jammers signing Callum Boylan looked busy, and on four minutes he burst through the middle of the park, but as he got close to the Tilbury box, the ball got caught in his feet. It did break to Terrell Egbri who tried his luck from distance, but fired wide.

Maldon continued to the edge the opening exchanges without creating too many clear-cut chances. Kacy Parish had a shot blocked and a long range try from Harry Phillips  was routinely dealt with by Tilbury keeper, Christian North.

Tilbury gradually found their feet and on 20 minutes created their first real chances of note. Unfortunately for the home side, Chris Millar blazed high and wide from the edge of the box.  

However, Dockers were growing in confidence and on 35 minutes, a cross from the right hand side just evaded Charlie Morris at the back post.

Less than a minute later, Maldon were indebted to goalkeeper, Tommy Dixon-Hodge, for a second match in a row, as he made a wonderful one-on-one save from Millar, throwing out a strong left hand to keep the scores level.

Five minutes later, it was the offside flag that came to the Jammers' rescue, as Martin Tuohy thought he'd put the hosts ahead, but his header was ruled out by the assistant.

That seemed to wake Maldon up and they finished the half strongly with Egbri cutting in from the left and forcing the keeper into a good diving save. The follow up was scrambled away for a corner from which Boylan saw his header blocked.

Half time arrived with a goalless score line, both teams feeling they could be ahead but in reality Maldon probably should have been.

The second half began with Tilbury making the early running, with Morris shooting straight at Dixon-Hodge. Maldon full back Benny Bioletti sought to change things though, and went on lung-busting, 50 yard run before being fouled on the edge of the box. Peter Mokwenye played the freekick short to Danny Nesbitt, but the Maldon centre back couldn't get the ball out of his feet and Tilbury cleared.

On his Maldon debut, Boylan was having a productive afternoon for the Jammers, winning headers, holding the ball up well and combining well his teammates. All that was missing was a that would put his team ahead.  

Maldon were starting to create the better openings. On the hour mark, Parish showed remarkable skill to control a wayward clearance before skinning his opponent and crossing for Egbri but he saw his shot blocked, as was the follow up from Mike Finneran.  

However, they were undebted to thre woodwork when an effort from Tuohy came back off an upright.

The deciding moment came on 85 minutes, when a through ball from Maldon's, Ronnie Bates found Lesley Duru in on goal. Making his way into the box, Duru was clipped by the onrushing Tilbury goalkeeper. It was left to Harry Phillips to dispatch the penalty high to the keeper's left for his first Jammers goal.

The Jammers' next league game is on Saturday 14th January when they host Grays Athletic at Park Drive.