East Thurrock Community FC 1, Dunmow Town 2

ROCKS were left frustrated at Rookery Hill on Saturday (12 September) as a spirited second-half performance wasn't quite enough to rescue a result against lowly Dunmow Town in the Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties South Division.

East Thurrock were forced into an early reshuffle after just two minutes, with Tom Walker unable to continue and Albert Hart taking his place.

The hosts began brightly despite the disruption. On six minutes, Aleem Balogun did well down the left before pulling the ball back towards Harry Prince, but the pass took a deflection and ran behind for a goal kick.

Two minutes later, Prince tried his luck from distance, firing wide from around 25 yards. Hart then delivered an inviting ball from the left on 11 minutes, but Prince couldn't quite make enough contact to trouble the Dunmow goalkeeper.

The visitors struck twice in quick succession midway through the half.

On 21 minutes, Dunmow took the lead when a corner was headed home to make it 0–1. Just a minute later, the visitors were awarded a penalty, which was confidently converted to suddenly leave the Rocks two goals behind.

Rocks looked for a response and created a big opportunity on the half-hour mark. Tommy Bruley's long ball forward was cleverly turned around the corner by Prince into the path of Lewis Rowe, but his effort was kept out by the goalkeeper.

Alex Newton was shown a yellow card two minutes later for a mistimed challenge in midfield before Fortune produced an excellent last-ditch block on 36 minutes to prevent Dunmow from adding a third.

Then, right on the stroke of half-time, the Rocks found the breakthrough they needed.

A long ball forward from Newton was misjudged by the Dunmow defence, allowing Aleem Balogun to react quickest and power the ball high into the net.

Aleem almost levelled things before the break, curling an effort narrowly over the bar in added time as ETCFC headed into the interval firmly back in the contest.

The Rocks carried that momentum into the second half.

On 47 minutes, Rowe whipped a dangerous corner into the penalty area. The goalkeeper fumbled the delivery and Aleem pounced, only to see his goal-bound effort dramatically blocked on the line.

At the other end, Bruley was called into action on 57 minutes and produced a good save to keep the deficit at one.

With 25 minutes remaining, East Thurrock made a double change as Ashton Marson and Joe Callender replaced Harry Prince and Lewis Rowe.

Marcus Adebayo-Bella entered the referee's notebook on 70 minutes before more strong work from Aleem earned the Rocks another corner two minutes later.

A further change followed on 75 minutes, with Dan Nakipov-Getmansky replacing Adebayo-Bella.

Callender came close to finding the equaliser on 78 minutes, firing a sharp snapshot just past the post as Rocks continued to press.

Aleem's afternoon came to an end five minutes from time, with Harry Salter introduced for the closing stages.

Rocks then had a huge chance to rescue a point in the 90th minute. Zac delivered an excellent ball into the area which found Bobby Reeman with the goal seemingly at his mercy, but the Dunmow goalkeeper produced a superb save to deny what looked certain to be a late equaliser.

There was still time for further drama.

In the first minute of stoppage time, goalkeeper Bruley was shown a red card after being adjudged to have handled the ball outside his penalty area.

With the Rocks having made their changes, Reeman took over the gloves — and immediately produced an outstanding save, tipping the resulting free kick over the crossbar.

It proved to be the final major action of the afternoon as the referee brought proceedings to a close and ended Rocks hopes of a successive hat-trick of league wins.

The defeat meant Rocks stayed in ninth place.

Rocks have an immediate chance to bounce back, with another home match on Tuesday (15 September), when they meet Essex Senior League Hutton in the Essex Senior Cup.

Rocks earned the derby and giant-killing opportunity by beating Harlow Town in the first round last month, with Hutton winning 4-3 at Burnham Ramblers.

Next Saturday Rocks go to Hertford Heath in the league.