Tilbury 1, Downham Town 1

A LATE, late goal spared Dockers' blushes against lowly Downham in Saturday's (31 January) Isthmian North clash at Chadfields.

The visitors sit second from bottom, well adrift of safety and they went into the match with a meagre return of ten points from 13 away outings.

Tilbury made a couple of changes to the squad that lost a 4-3 thriller against Redbridge, as Kieran Jones returned from suspension to replace the injured Tyler Forbes. Tobias Braney also featured in the starting 11, while U18s EJA players Dan East and Fenton Tucker featured on the bench.

Dockers put the ball in the net after just seven minutes, as Joe Elliott's long throw was headed out to the edge of the area. The chance was recycled and a floated ball into the box found Luke Reeve, who beat the keeper to the ball and nodded the ball over the line. But the celebrations were cut short by the linesman's raised flag.

The Saints had an opportunity to take the lead inside 15 minutes, when a free kick from the left was flashed across the face of goal and met by Jake Miller. However, the defender's header flew just wide of the target.

The deadlock was broken five minutes later, and the go-ahead goal went the way of the visitors.

It was once again Lagshan Sivakumar causing issues for the Tilbury defence, as he skipped past a challenge on the left wing before finding the space for a shot. His effort was saved by Dion Henry, but the ball fell to the feet of Charlie Royle who prodded the ball over the line from close range.

Dockers' mascots on Saturday were the U11s Rebels

Dockers looked to level the scoring on the stroke of half time, when a cross from the right flank was headed out to the edge of the area where Dan Trendall was waiting. The forward lined up a strike, but his volleyed effort rolled bounced wide.

In the second half, the hosts continued to knock on the door and their prayers were seemingly answered when Trendall was brought down in the area, winning a penalty. Kieran Jones stepped up to take the spot kick, but was unable to find the target.

As the match entered stoppage time, Tilbury defender, Jack Hayes was thrown up top in hope of a dramatic ending. And a dramatic ending it was, as Joe Elliott fired his shot back into a sea of bodies, and Hayes was first to react, poking the ball over the line and salvaging a point for the home side.

Dockers are back in action on Saturday, 7 February when they travel to face top-of-the-league Felixstowe and Walton.

SQUAD: Henry, Martin (Amir), Winn, Reeve, Hayes ©, Brocklebank, Braney (East) , Jones, Trendall, Elliott, Ward. SUBS UNUSED: Forbes J, Tucker, Wheatley. GOAL: Jack Hayes.