The FA Cup qualifiers often produce upsets and the trip to Buckingham Town was one of those games where on a bumpy hard and on a slope – could have been such an occasion. The first half of the game was predictable in that the home side gave it there all and pressed hard to try to stamp some authority on the game.  Buckingham played some neat and tidy football but without any end product and never caused a problem to the Thurrock defence.

The pitch made passing very difficult and the half was somewhat scrappy.

Things soon changed in the first minute of the second half when Buckingham took the lead, when Moses Olaleye latched onto a cross field pass to slam the ball past Paul Gothard. The local support urged their team on and the Thurrock side had to be at their best to ensure they didn’t concede again.

Kris Lee, Martyn Lawrence and Cliff Akurang all went close and the home side began to look at the clock and were hanging with 10 minutes remaining.

Cliff Akurang won a corner in the 80^th minute and suddenly Thurrock were back on level terms. Dave Collis sent over a searching ball and Cliff Akurang scored with a powerful header. The home side were stunned and lost their concentration and within a minute they wee out of the competition. Substitute Terry Bowes made a great run down the left flank and delivered a great cross which found the unmarked Martyn Lawrence on the right hand side of the area who fired home to win the game. It was a deserved goal for the Thurrock man as in previous games he has been denied so often.

All in al it was a typical cup tie where the underdogs had there chance but were denied when that little bit of extra quality shone through to win the day.