Newmarket Town 3, Tilbury 3

TILBURY produced a tremendous comeback to square Tuesday night's (8 October) Isthmian North clash at Newmarket – where they trailed by three goals at one point.

And even more to the credit of the spirit of the Dockers, they did so, playing a third of the match with ten men.

With three successive wins to their name, Tilbury went were forced into a single change from Saturday's lineup which was victorious against Heybridge Swifts as the returning Jack McQueen replaced the injured Connor Martin.

Tilbury almost took the lead very early on as Jamie Reynolds split the defence to release Oli Spooner. The skipper looked for Sam Bantick in the middle rather than taking a shot and the chance got away from The Dockers.

Newmarket wasted no time in moving play up the other end of the pitch and found Josh Lee on the left. The forward cut inside and slotted into the far corner to give his side a fourth minute lead, despite Tilbury's calls for offside.

On 17 minutes the Jockeys came close with a quick exchange on the right-hand side. The eventual effort was well saved by David Hughes and pushed past the post.

However, Tilbury's escape was only momentary. The resulting corner was deep and caused the referee to point to the spot for a penalty as he called for a handball on Jack Hayes at the back post. Lee was the man who stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way for his brace.

Things went from bad to worse for The Dockers as, four minutes into the second half, Jockeys' Ryan Cole collected the ball on the edge of the area with his back to goal. The striker was given time to turn and dig out a shot which found the top corner brilliantly.

Delight is written all over the face of Dockers boss Marc Harrison at Newmarket as his team showed great resilience to come back from three goals down and earn a point.

A determined Tilbury pulled a goal back 10 minutes into the second half as Alex Hernandez netted his third goal in four matches with a well-taken header from Macauley Joynes' free kick.

But Dockers were given a mountain to climb just after the hour when Jack McQueen was shown his marching orders for an apparent 'elbow', as everybody crowded the ref due to a two-footed challenge from behind on Hernandez.

The comeback was well and truly on in the 74^th minute when Dan Trendall entered the 18-yard box from the right-hand side and chopped past the defender to work the ball back on his left foot, before unleashing a beautiful strike into the top left corner.

And the Dockers found the equaliser two minutes later courtesy of Spooner. The chance started with Joynes who did well to keep the ball in play and send a difficult ball into the mixer. Trendall's run took a defender with him, opening up space through the middle for the captain to step up and finish off an incredible comeback.

The end of the match was followed by further intervention from referee Thomas Whay as the home side's Efraim CO Romanos saw red and a yellow card was shown to Tilbury's Sam Carter.

The point left Tilbury in seventh, but they have a chance to force their way into the play-off zone on Saturday when they entertain fourth-placed Felixstowe and Walton United at the EMR Stadium.