Tilbury 2, Concord Rangers 0

TILBURY bounced back from Saturday's opening Day Isthmian North defeat at Mildenhall to record a derby win at Chadfields on Tuesday (12 August) evening

Dockers made a few changes to the lineup with Oli Spooner, Darren Phillips and DanTrendall all making the starting 11.

Concord Rangers had the first opportunity of the match when Khris Oti was released down the left-hand side before a low cut back found Bobby Kelman in the area. However, his strike was somehow brilliantly blocked on the line by Jimmy Wallace.

The Beachboys continued to cause problems, and Oti found his way in behind the defence once again, this time with just the keeper to beat. However, David Aderibigbe showcased his blistering speed to get back and make a vital intervention.

With just 10 minutes of the first half remaining, Tilbury were given a mountain to climb when Jimmy Wallace was shown his marching orders for a second yellow card offence.

Hoping to take advantage of the extra man, Concord continued to find joy down the left flank with Bobby Kelman making his way into the penalty area. Kelman fizzed in a cross towards the near post, where Harrison Day made a good run and attempted a backheel past Harry Fairs. It looked to be a certain goal, but Dan Trendall anticipated it well and cleared the ball off the line.

In the 70th minute, Concord were also down to 10 men, as Kai Torres was shown a straight red card for violent conduct when he threw an arm into the face of Dan Trendall after the whistle had already gone for a Tilbury free kick.

The Dockers began to dominate and almost broke the deadlock after some tidy play between Jamie Reynolds and Dan Trendall on the left. The winger drilled in a cross for Max Appauh to attack, but his first-time effort was blocked and cleared.With time running out, Marc and Liam brought on Nathan Best, and just five seconds later, Best scored with his first touch to put Tilbury ahead.

It started with a mistake at the back, as Louie Ramsay let the ball run across him, and Nathan Best was the first to react and lift the ball over the keeper to open the scoring.

And just like London buses, you wait 80 minutes for a goal and two come along at once. Straight from kick-off, Concord Rangers looked to build from the back, but another mistake saw a misplaced pass brilliantly intercepted by Kieran Jones, who ran through and calmly found the bottom left-hand corner to seal all three points in our first home match of the season.

In the dying moments, the visitors came close to pulling a goal back with a diagonal pass out to Jones. The winger drove inside, but his strike was denied by Harry Fairs, who stood tall to ensure he kept his clean sheet.

Dockers are back in action on Saturday (16 August) when they host AFC Dunstable in the preliminary round of the FA Cup.

SQUAD: Fairs, Aderibigbe, Konte (Martin), Wallace, Reeve, Carter, Spooner ©, Reynolds (Jones), , Phillips (Best), Appauh (Nicholas-Davies). SUBS UNUSED: Akintunde.