TILBURY 3 CHESHUNT 0
Ryman League Division 1 North
Saturday 24th January 2009
Harry England reports.....
After the Herts Senior Cup victory over Ware in the week, Glynn Mason's first league game in charge of the Ambers ended in a disappointing loss at the hands of Tilbury. Jerome Boyce, signed from Wingate & Finchley, made his debut, whilst Chris Goodchild returned after his injury against Waltham Abbey last weekend. A terribly bobbly pitch meant the usual slick passing game of Cheshunt was prevented, and the game was a largely long-ball affair.
The early pace was set by Cheshunt, and within two minutes Dan O'Connor had rolled a shot wide across the face of goal after some build-up play by Bradley Harrison and skipper Glen Parry. Nick Thorogood almost grabbed his first Ambers goal two minutes later, as he rose at the back post to meet Ashley Taylor-Forbes' cross, but he couldn't guide his header goalbound.
Nine minutes later and it was Tilbury on the attack, as Rashid Kamara got the better of Thorogood, but his twenty-yard looping shot hit the underside of the bar and was scurried away by the shaken Ambers defence. Just a minute later, the home side went in front, as Manlee Brown was left completely unmarked at the back post. He was left with an easy header to steer home the cross from the left, and leave his club one goal to the good.
Four minutes later it could have been a doubled scoreline had it not been for Gary Schillaci's diving header to deny a rocket of a shot by Tilbury. Brown then had an opportunity to grab his second, but his glancing header trailed just past the far post. Six minutes before the break, Kamara hit the bar again. With no space, he somehow squeezed a shot out, and saw it ping back off of the woodwork, another narrow escape for the visiting Ambers.
Two minutes later in an entertaining first half, Kai Ramshaw's dangerous low free-kick was hit into the area, but somehow the equaliser could not be found by Cheshunt, the ball eventually cleared by the opposing defence. In first-half stoppage time, Ashley Taylor-Forbes got through the defence, but his final product ended up going way, way over the bar, leaving Cheshunt trailing 1-0 going into the break.
The second-half got off to a slow start, taking ten minutes to see Chris Goodchild's first real save of the game; tipping over Joe Keith's deflected cross. Three minutes later, Kamara had another effort watched narrowly wide as the home side continued to take advantage of the pitch surface.
On the hour mark, Cheshunt's O'Connor had a diving header turned away by Andy Hall at the near post, before five minutes later Tilbury doubled their lead. Keith's cross took a deflection into the path of Brown, who rounded Parry (who was on the floor) and rolled the ball into the bottom left corner, out of Goodchild's reach.
Three minutes later could well have been a turning point, as O'Connor was dragged down in the penalty area, but predictably the referee turned down the strong penalty appeal. Two minutes later Parry and Thorogood were both absurdly cautioned. Parry's initial tackle was perfectly clean, winning the ball fairly, and the appeals of himself and Thorogood resulted in yellows for each. The resulting free-kick was hit superbly by Joe Keith with his left-foot, and screamed into the bottom-right corner, a great injustice to the Ambers.
It could well have been more though, as in the final minute of stoppage time Rickie Hayles' header from Michael Black's corner hit the bar, but in the end it was a disappointing 3-0 loss, a poor result considering the recent good form shown by Cheshunt.
Tilbury: Hall, Smith, Keith, Hayles, Baker, Wallace (c) (Stannard 84'), Cohen, Black, Kamara (Miller 84'), Brown, Nazeem (Fontaine 55')
Unused: Faskin, Robson
Cheshunt: Goodchild, Schillaci, Parry (c), Thorogood, Pelley, Ramshaw, Taylor-Forbes, Harrison, O'Connor (Tresadern 84'), Akers, Roberts (Boyce 72')
Unused: Harris, McGowen, Churchouse
Attendance: 74