East Thurrock Community FC 0, Stansted 2

EAST Thurrock's hopes of completing a hat-trick of wins at the start of their Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties League South Division season were thwarted at Rookery Hill on Saturday (1 August) by two second half goals from the north Essex visitors.

The Airportmen were probably worth the win, having showed more composure in defence throughout the match and in the end delivered two counter-attacking blows.

Rocks showed lots of individual flair and plenty of neat, attractive interplay which disguised the difficulties of a bone-hard pitch but they lacked a cutting edge. Lewis Rowe was always a threat but often lacked support, a problem particularly identified when he delivered a number of crosses into danger areas but no one was there.

In a relatively uneventful and even first half, the visitors registered the first effort of note in the 12th minute, although their shot from outside the penalty area sailed over the crossbar. Rocks grew into the contest and created their first clear opening on 32 minutes. A short corner found Kieron Miles at an angle, but his curling attempt towards the far side was covered by the goalkeeper.

Seven minutes later, Zac Bussell produced an excellent recovery challenge to halt a dangerous Stansted attack.

With neither side able to break the deadlock, the teams went in level at half-time with little of note to report.

Stansted threatened soon after the restart when a cross into the six-yard box was met in the 50th minute, but the touch carried too much height. The Rocks continued to defend with discipline, their well-organised back line repeatedly catching the visitors offside.

Rocks made a triple change early in the second half, bringing on Harry Daly, Albert Hart and new signing Alex Merrell, who has joined from Cressing. The changes disrupted the flow of Rocks and Merrell, who brought height and experience to the forward line, looked like he needs to get a few more games under his belt.

At the other end, Zac Bussell tried his luck from distance on 61 minutes, curling an effort towards the far top corner, but the shot drifted wide. Shortly afterwards, Tom Barnacle delivered a clever, chipped cross towards Merrell six minutes later, only for the assistant referee to raise the flag for offside.

The breakthrough arrived in the 69th minute when Stansted won possession in a dangerous area and capitalised to take the lead as Michael Mignot forced the ball home from close range.

The visitors almost doubled their advantage four minutes later, but Flynn Monk made a superb goal-line clearance to keep the Rocks in the contest.

Stansted eventually found their second goal in the 82nd minute, converting with a close range header from Reece Barnett to put the result beyond doubt.

The Rocks kept working until the final whistle, but there was no way back as the visitors departed with all three points, inflicting a first defeat of the season on the home side.

Rocks are quickly back in action with a trip to Southend Manor in the League Challenge Cup on Tuesday evening (4 August, 7.45pm).

They have another home match next weekend, entertaining Hoddesdon Town in the league.