Brantham Athletic 1, Tilbury 2

AFTER saving themselves with a last gasp added time equaliser on Saturday, Tilbury made no9 mistake at the second time of asking, coming through Tuesday evenings' FA Cup First Qualifying round replay at lower league Brantham to set up a cracking derby cup clash at Chadfields when they will be wearing the giant-killing boots against Vanarama National League South Chelmsford City.

That match will take place at the EMR Stadium, on Saturday, 14 September – a possibility that seemed off the scale when Dockers were two down in the original encounter with Thurlow Nunn Premier Division visitors Brantham.

Two goals from Sam Bantick put them level and earned Bantick a place in the starting line-up on Tuesday night (3 September).

He was partnered up top with Lewis Manor, but the pairing only lasted 20 minutes before Maor went down injured, eventually requiring hospital treatment after he was stretchered off, adding to Tilbury's ever-growing injury list.

On the half-hour mark, Dockers came forward again as Bantick broke with Alex Akrofi in support, but Bantick was unable to find his teammate who had space to run into.

The next attack saw the ball fall to Jamie Reynolds, but his eventual looping effort flew agonisingly wide of the far post.

On the stroke of halftime, the Blue Imps crafted a swift counterattack as they looked to slide the ball through to Kyle Ferguson who was waiting on the far side. But Macauley Joynes got across brilliantly to intervene and get the ball cleared.

Following the break, a Tilbury corner was only half-cleared by Brantham and the ball landed at the feet of Bantick who saw his strike blocked. Lewis Clark was first to react but his effort was also very well blocked by the Brantham defence.

With 20 minutes on the clock, the home side got their first real look at goal but didn't trouble Christian North, when Adam Wrathall fired over the bar from the right-hand side of the area.

The Dockers thought they found the opener as Reynolds drove with the ball before splitting the defence beautifully to release Bantick, but keeper Rob Weller palmed the shot out of play.

However, the resulting corner was delivered in deep by Joynes and perfectly placed for Clark to sneak around the back post and head home to give Tilbury the lead.

As Brantham were forced to commit men forward, searching for an equaliser, the visitors capitalised with Akrofi beating the offside trap before taking the ball round Weller and he casually strolled across the line to give Tilbury a cushion.

Four minutes into stoppage time, North was called to action and pulled off a fantastic save to deny Jack Marshall's header from close range. However, Brantham would get their goal as in the 99th minute Joe Heron whipped a beauty of a free kick into the top left-hand corner to give the home side a bit of hope in the dying moments.

But the final whistle quashed those hopes and Tilbury were through. They picked up £2,250 for the win and victors at the next stage will get £3,375 in prize money, while losing clubs will take home £1,125.

The Dockers are back in cup action on Saturday (7 September) when they welcome Southern League Central Division One Welwyn Garden City to Chadfields for an FA Trophy tie.