Tilbury 3, Sporting Bengal United 1

THE football cliché 'a game of two halves' was never more appropriate than at the EMR stadium on Tuesday evening (15 August) when Tilbury recorded their first competitive home win since October last year!

For much of the first half of this Essex Senior League clash Tilbury looked second best to a busy Bengal side that had a more direct approach.

The Mile End-based club are settling in quickly to life in the Essex Senior after winning the Thurlow Nunn First Division South play-off last campaign and they went into the match in third place.

After a tepid start from both sides Sporting began to step up the pace and were rewarded with the half's only goal on 31 minutes when right back Kay Hill cut into the box and fired the ball home.

Tilbury were much better after the break but the match turned on two incidents around the hour mark

Firstly ref George Barker made what many believed to be a harsh a decision when he dismissed Kay for tripping Dan Trendall as he raced through towards goal. However, it transpired it was a second yellow rather than a straight red for denial of a goalscoring opportunity.

Tilbury were glad of the benefit of having an extra man and moments later another change came when striker Brian Moses was replaced by Olly Miles.

It was an intuitive move by the Dockers management duo of Marc Harrison and Liam Wallace and Miles had an immediate impact, winning the ball on the edge of the box with his first touch and rifling the ball past the visiting keeper to put Dockers on level terms.

Just a couple of minutes had passed when Tilbury took the lead.

Macauley Joynes' classic free kick strike.

They were playing with much more fluency and pace and won a free kick on the edge of the box which Macauley Joynes drifted over the wall and past the despairing keeper.

The points were wrapped up on 77 minutes when Sporting Bengal failed to clear a corner and it fell invitingly to Harry Donovan on the edge of the box and he picked his spot with a fine angled drive that rippled the side netting.

There was great joy in the Dockers ranks and among the bulk of a crowd of 155 after the end of what was almost eight competitive months without a win on home soil. The victory lifted them to seventh.

Because of the extra preliminary round exit from the FA Cup Dockers lose out on the chance to build on the impetus of the win – and a decent display that ended in a late goal defeat at FC Clacton on Saturday - as they have a blank weekend.

However, they do have two mouthwatering tasks coming up. Firstly they go back to Clacton on Saturday, 26 August with the chance for revenge in the FA Vase and then are next in action at the EMR on Bank Holiday Monday, 28 August (3pm) when the visitors are early season pacesetters Romford who have made club history with five straight competitive wins at the start of a season.