Thurrock put in probably their best away performance of the season at a wet Westleigh Park.

With the influential Gary Cross restored to midfield after missing the draw at Sutton due to illness, Thurrock had to weather an early storm.

The Thurrock defence held firm as Cross and Moore won the midfield battle. In the 24th minute Janney was release down the right and after beating the full back sent in an undefendable cross which Champion turned in at his near post

It was nothing more than Thurrock deserved and the confidence seemed to flow with chances falling to Parker & Lee. Sloma had a shot just held by Matthews in the Havant goal after excellent work by Moore. Mark Goodfellow also tried to get in on the action after a brilliant through ball by Sloma but he just failed to get in a clean shot.

Parker was fouled in the box after another sweeping move, however the referee decided that the initial foul had happened outside the penalty area.

Ex-Thurrock forward Richard Pacquette was booked for a awful tackle on Goodfellow as Havant seemed unable to answer Thurrock's high tempo break aways with anything other than foul play.

Havant did create a rare chance and beat Glen Knight only for John Purdie on the goal line to keep his cool and flick to ball out for a corner.
 
The second half started as the first with Thurrock on top and creating the clearer opportunities, in the 55th minute Thurrock extended their lead - Janney's brilliant shot was palmed wide by Matthews, Moore took the resulting corner only for Matthews to get two good hands on the ball before dropping the ball under no pressure. The first shot was charged down by a Havant defender and the ball fell to Gary Cross who picked his spot perfectly.

The ineffective Pacquette was replaced by Watkin, but it was the other Hawks sub that that got Havant back into the game - Wilson-Denis. A cross from the right was headed into he air by Purdie and with the ball spinning wildly Jimmy McFarlane was unable to get any real distance on his headed clearance and Wilson-Denis' miss hit shot went in off the post.

Havant suddenly thought that they could get an equalizer they did not deserve and briefly pressured the Thurrock back line. The introduction of Richard Goddard for the tiring Parker saw an end to that, with Goddard using his strength to good effect.

In the last couple of minutes another wonderful Janney cross saw Goddard smash a header towards the corner of the goal only for Matthews to make a magnificent save, diving to his right.

An excellent performance with everyone playing well.

Thurrock: Knight, Purdie, Goodfellow, Heffer, McFarlane©, Cross, Moore, Janney, Sloma, Lee, Parker (Goddard 70) Subs not used Fletcher, Parker, Lewis

Man of the Match: Gary Cross