Thurrock managed to earn three points in a tremendous battling display after playing with ten men, after an incorrect sending off, for 40 minutes. Thurrock felt that they were playing against 13 men, with one linesman and the referee seeming to give everything Havant’s way.

          Thurrock managed to take the lead after ten minutes when Dave Collis’ mishit cross was flicked in by Jimmy McFarlane into the far corner of the net. Havant tried to bounce straight back and earnt a free kick, which saw Collis booked for an innocuous challenge forty yards from goal. The free kick was swung in and Adam Parker was adjudged to have committed a foul in the box. The referee showed him a yellow card and Dean Holdsworth stepped up and fired hard, low and left. Billy McMahon dived to his right to pull off a fantastic save only for the referee to tell Holdsworth to take it again after encroachment. Holdsworth hit the ball to the other side and McMahon dived across to save again, with the ball going behind for a corner. Thurrock tried to stifle Havant for the rest of the half, with lots of strong tackling, with Ryan Kirby and Marc Goodfellow excelling, the latter pulling of an excellent last ditch tackle in the last minute of the half. Lee Hodges was unlucky in first half injury time when his 25 yard shot went just wide.

          Havant came out brightly for the second half and were unlucky when Poate’s shot was well saved by McMahon. In the fiftieth minute the game changed. Hodges committed a foul thirty yards from goal, which the referee deemed a bookable offence. However, the referee issued Adam Parker a second yellow card and sent him off. Thurrock had to go to a more defensive formation and brought off Hodges for the ever running Shane Thompson in order to cover more ground. Kris Lee was also substituted on the hour and replaced by Manuel after running himself into the ground. Havant pressed and Thurrock were twice more grateful to McMahon after good saves after a header and a long range shot. McFarlane was unlucky not to get a second when his header was cleared off the line and Tresor Kandol was extremely unfortunate to be booked after bundling the ball into the goal, the referee deciding that he had deliberately handled the ball into the goal. Thurrock won the game in the last minute when Kandol beat three defenders and drilled home past Gareth Howells. Kandol should also have had a penalty in injury time when he was brought down in the box and missed a one on one as Thurrock kept breaking.

Man of the Match: Billy McMahon

Thurrock: McMahon, Collis, Goodfellow, Goddard, McFarlane©, D Lee (Fletcher 90), Kirby, Parker, Hodges (Thompson 54), K Lee (Manuel 60), Kandol.