Cray Valley PM 5, East Thurrock United 3
EAST Thurrock's FA Trophy journey ended at Paper Mills' DGS Marine Stadium this afternoon in a match of eight goals and a substantial amount of controversy with many Rocks fans incensed by the performance of match referee Vladyslav Bakulin whose apparent lack of competent English appeared to hamper not just his game management with players but also with his assistants Anastasiya Voloshchuk and Ericsson Temu.
A number of his decisions, many which went against East Thurrock appeared incomprehensible and away fans in the crowd of 105 left the game angry and annoyed by the officials' contribution to their side's defeat.
It was the hosts that opened the scoring in the 19th minute through a header from Thomas Chambers but parity was restored eight minutes later by Rocks' Brian Moses who fired past fired past Chris Lewington.
By that time Rocks' were already feeling frustrated by Mr Bakulin's decision-making, not least deciding to only caution Millers' Hassan Ibrahiym for a challenge on Harry Critchley that not only broke his shin pad but left him with two nasty wounds.
It looked like the sides would go in on level terms after a fairly even first half but the match turned in a couple of minutes either side of the interval.
The first came in added time from Millers' Hassan Ibrahiym and in the opening moments of second Dan Bennett gave the hosts an ascendancy they never relinquished.
Rocks were knocked out of their stride but found their feet again and dragged themselves back into the contest being rewarded with a penalty that Harry Hope converted on the hour.
But the revival failed to materialise Adam Coombes struck nine minutes from time to Valley breathing space going into the last ten minutes.
A second spot kick from Hope just two minutes later kept the visitors in touch but it was too little, too late and Rocks were out.
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