Tilbury 2, Brightlingsea Regent 0

DOCKERS made just one change from the side that beat Heybridge Swifts the weekend before for Saturday's Isthmian North clash against Brightlingsea, with whom they drew 2-2 in December.

Tyler Forbes replaced the injured Kieran Jones as the visiting team, in 13^th place, arrived to take on a side two places above them. By the end of the afternoon the gap was three places with Tilbury now having solid hopes of a good top ten finish after a difficult start to the season.

Brightlingsea came closest to opening the scoring in the opening period of the game through Daniel Rowe. The striker collected the ball on the edge of the area, shifted into a shooting position before firing just wide of the target.

Dockers were awarded a penalty on the stroke of half-time, when a lofted pass bounced towards Jack Hayes as he entered the area. Idreess Namisi attempted to get back for the visitors, but the defender caught Hayes with a high boot, and the referee pointed to the spot. Lester Ward stepped up for the hosts, but his spot-kick was saved by Luke Avenell.

Brightlingsea Regent came close to taking the lead after the break, when a ricocheted shot deflected off Tilbury's Alfie Fry and bounced goalwards, only to be denied by an incredible save from Billy Lawlor.

On the hour mark, Lawlor was called to action once more, getting down brilliantly to his lefthand side to keep the scoreline level. From the resultant corner, Jake Brocklebank headed clear, and Soumen Nandi kick-started a counterattack. Nandi shrugged off the challenge from Harry McDonald in the middle of the pitch before releasing Dan Trendall down the right flank. Trendall raced towards the goal and squared his pass to Forbes, who slotted the ball into the empty net to break the deadlock.

The home side doubled their lead in the 77th minute, as Hayes sent a perfect pass over the top of the Brightlingsea back-line. Trendall latched onto the pass and drilled his strike underneath Avenell to secure the three points for Tilbury.

SQUAD: Lawlor, Fry, Taylor, Hayes ©, Reeve, Brocklebank, Toussaint, Nandi (Elliott), Forbes (East), Ward (Agyiri), Trendall. SUBS UNUSED: Weston, Tucker.

Dockers are next in action on Saturday, 28 March when they welcome Newmarket Town to The EMR Stadium.