Tilbury 1, Barking 1

DOCKERS edged a little closer to the Essex Senior League title with Tuesday's hard-fought draw at the EMR Stadium against fourth-placed Barking.

The visitors were the first to challenge inside the opening few moments when Luke Hirst was slotted through, but denied by returning Docker, Harry Girling.

Tilbury opened the scoring courtesy of Shae Hutchinson, who put a  defender under pressure and then beat the keeper to the back pass, before rounding him and firing into the empty net to score on just his second start for The Dockers.

The hosts continued to threaten in the first outing but failed to extend their lead heading into the break.

Then the game completely flipped on its head as Barking dominated the second half.

Substitute, Ezekiel Bademosi burst through down the left-hand side and was just one touch away from having just the keeper to beat. But he was stopped in his tracks by a fantastic intervention from Alfie Fry, who made a perfect sliding challenge to stop the attack.

Barking would eventually find their goal though, as Luke Hirst was released once again. This time he was shown wide by Elliott Johnson but still managed to get a shot off. The strike seemed to be from an impossible angle from the left-hand side, but the ball managed to find its way and nestle into the top right corner.