Aveley 4, Tilbury 0 

Report by Mason Hutchinson 

TILBURY hoped to bounce back from their devastating defeat at the hands of Basildon on Saturday as they were welcomed to Parkside, the home of league leaders Aveley. The Millers were fired up for this fixture as a win would seal their promotion to the Isthmian Premier as well as crowning them champions of the Isthmian North League. 

With more than 800 fans in attendance, it did not take long for Aveley to prove why they are in the position they are in as after 14 minutes, Ayo Shogbeni was booked for a foul on George Sykes inside the penalty area.  

Alex Akrofi stepped up to give the home side the lead as he dispatched the penalty very well. Aveley managed to double their lead just five minutes later when Akrofi was released down the left-hand side and cut inside before finding Kenny Aileru brilliantly. Aileru then, in loads of space, took his time to slot it past the keeper for 2-0. 

The Millers began to run riot and even found a third goal after only 20 minutes of play. Aileru had space to run into of the right-hand side of the pitch before bursting past his man and delivering a low cross into the area. Sykes was the man the cross went to as he was isolated and had space for a first-time strike to put the home side one step closer to automatic promotion.  

This momentum continued for the home side as they created more chances and in the 26th minute, Aileru dispossessed the Tilbury defence with a strong challenge on the right-hand side. The Aveley man then ran into space before cutting it back to Jon Benton, who found Sykes to the left of him. The striker then opened his body up before unleashing a first-time curled shot into the top corner. 

Half time could not come soon enough for the visitors, but the relentless pressure carried on as two more chances in a short period of time on the left-hand side but keeper, Jamie Scammell was able to deal with them both. 

The Dockers had a mountain to climb if they wanted anything from this second half and they managed to create the first chance of the half as Roman Campbell was played through over the top of the Aveley defence and hit a first-time half volley which ended up wide of the far post.  

Tilbury had another chance in the 65th minute as Eljay Worrell linked up well with Lee Noble playing a one-two and cutting three people out of the game. Worrell was then fouled on the edge of the area but the free kick came to nothing.  

Aveley then began to control the game again as Akrofi was fed the ball by Benton on the left-hand side before he cut inside onto his favoured right foot. He shifted past his defender and whipped a strike toward the far corner, but the strike was just wide. The last chance of the game fell the way of the league leaders as Billy Crook skipped past two and slid a pass through to Manny Ogunrinde whose shot was saved by Scammell. 

That was all the action at Parkside as Aveley were awarded automatic promotion and named champions of the 2021/22 season. For Tilbury this meant that they finished the day in 14th as they head into the final day of the season. The Dockers will be in action at the EMR Stadium on Saturday, 23 April at 3 o'clock against Barking.