THURROCK EASE TO VICTORY

An excellent performance saw Thurrock take all three points in the attempt to finish 2^nd in their last season in the Ryman league.

          Hayes started the brighter, passing the ball well on the floor and holding possession well. However, from the moment Cliff Akurang shot wide from 25 yards after 5 minutes there was only one team going to win. Two minutes later Akurang scored an excellent goal. Where others may have shot first time only to have the shot blocked he composed himself and turned away from the lunging defenders and flicked the ball over Jallow in the Hayes goal from close range.

          Hayes first shot on goal came after 12 minutes, Adam Everitt shot from fully 30 yards but it was comfortably saved by Paul Gothard. Minute’s later good work from Simon Martin led to a chance for Tresor Kandol whose shot crept just wide. The clinching goal came halfway through the first half. A free kick well delivered by Dave Collis was headed in by captain Jimmy McFarlane from 12 yards out for his 60^th goal for Thurrock and put him into 3^rd in the Thurrock all time goal scoring list.  The first real chance for Hayes came on the half hour, Peter Holsgrove was played through but finished badly and Thurrock comfortably saw out the rest of the half.

          Thurrock started the second half well, not letting Hayes get near the goal with clever defending from McFarlane and the extremely impressive John Purdie. Ten minutes into the half good interplay from Simon Martin and Kandol led to the latter shooting wide with his left foot from ten yards out. The next twenty minutes saw Thurrock continuing to defend well and control the midfield. With ten minutes to go a well-taken free kick by Paul Linger headed just over by Simon Martin. We then had 10 minutes of the Cliff Akurang show. The Hayes defenders didn’t know what to do as Cliff started showing the quick feet we have seen many times this season. Three times he had the  crowd cheering as the defenders tried their best to get the ball off him in tight spaces, however each time he emerged with the ball there was no goal or killer pass. Hayes troubled Goths with a shot from fully 30 yards from Paul Holsgrove which he could only parry in injury time but by this time it was far too late.

          An excellent performance today and three points gained and thankfully none of the disgraceful scenes seen last time the two sides met. The team seem to be performing well at the moment and can hopefully continue the march towards second place at Maidenhead on Saturday.

Man of the match: Cliff Akurang

Thurrock: Gothard, Collis, Davidson, Purdie, McFarlane, Heffer, Linger, Bowes, Akurang, Kandol (Allen 84), Martin (Howard 90).