Cambridge City 3, Tilbury 0

TILBURY remained in the Isthmian Noprth drop zone after Saturday's (8 November) defeat at Cambridge – a different experience to last season when Dockers were the first team to visit City's new ground at their new stadium and won 2-1, coming back from a goal down to spoil their party.

Saturday saw a much different starting lineup from that day, as Hassan Nalbant led the line, with Tyler Forbes and Dan Trendall completing the front three. Kieran Jones came into the lineup as the only other change from Wednesday's draw at Downham, with Medo Konte returning to the bench in place of the absent Jake Brocklebank.

The Lilywhites came close to opening the scoring inside 10 minutes, when the ball bounced out to Alfie Mason on the edge of the area. His volley was blasted through a sea of bodies and forced a very good save from Harry Fairs, who saw the strike late, down to his left-hand side.

City would eventually take the lead after half an hour, when Quevin Castro beat his man on the left wing and stood up a cross towards the back stick. Usman Adeniji was the target, and the winger rose above his man to head home and break the deadlock.

Quevin Castro continued to cause problems for Tilbury as he latched onto the ball inside the area before being brought down and winning his side a penalty. George Smith stepped up to take the 39^th minute spot-kick and made no mistake, firing into the corner and doubling Cambridge City's lead.

Following the break, the Dockers won a penalty of their own after Lester Ward and Dan Trendall linked up down the left-hand side, with the latter being brought down inside the 18-yard box. The responsibility fell to Nalbant, but his search for his first Tilbury goal continues as James Philp made the save.

City punished this miss, netting a third con 63 minutes courtesy of the captain, Jayden Randall. A corner was delivered to the edge of the 6-yard box from the right-hand side, and Randall was the first to react, heading down into the side-netting.

Searching for a consolation, Tilbury broke away as the new signing, Ezra Agyiri, was released down the left flank. Agyiri did brilliantly to beat his man and fizz his cross into the area. Nalbant brought the ball down with his back to goal, but his attempt on the swivel was unable to find the target.

SQUAD: Fairs, Reeve, Phillips, Hayes, Ward (Konte), Reynolds (Fry), Spooner ©, Jones, Trendall (Agyiri), Forbes T (Forbes J), Nalbant. SUBS UNUSED: Braney.

The Dockers are back in action on Tuesday (11 November) when they travel to Concord Rangers