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On the up
Thurrock won their Bank Holiday Monday clash against a poor Maidenhead side. Fleet were quick out of the blocks and the lead was taken after just two minutes. Kris Lee’s layoff was blasted into the corner of the net from 25 yards by Lee Hodges. Only one team looked likely to score as Thurrock pushed to double their lead when the Maidenhead custodian tipped a long range Lee effort around the post . Hodges was having his best game of the season so far and saw his shot from the edge of the box go just wide with the keeper beaten. Martin Carthy also tried to get in on the act when his shot looped over the keeper but again went just wide. The second goal did come with just over five minutes of the half remaining when Craig O’Connor battled hard to win the ball by the corner flag and crossed to the back post for to Terry Bowes smash the ball against the bar and down, the game carried on until the referee’s attention was gained by his assistant, who in true Russian linesman style, said that the ball was over the line. There was no argument from the Maidenhead defence so the decision must have been correct. Thurrock tried to kill the game and nearly did when a great move involving Bowes and O’Connor found Steve Heffer eight yards from goal but he failed to connect properly with the ball. Maidenhead pulled a goal back just before the break against the run of play when Hughes rounded Glenn Knight and slotted into the empty net. The second half had less action but Maidenhead were unlucky on the hour when Hughes’ header bounced down and over the bar. Thurrock made their third substitution after 66 minutes when Gary Cross came on for the struggling Bowes. Mark Goodfellow and Lee had already been replaced by John Purdie and Steve Harper. This became a problem when O’Connor hurt his ankle and spent the next five minutes being treated on the side of the pitch. However Thurrock never looked in trouble with only ten men and as soon as O’Connor came back on started to hit their hosts on the break with Hodges’ shot tipped brilliantly onto the bar and Carthy’s cross just held by the keeper under pressure from Harper and O’Connor. The third goal did come in injury time when O’Connor was fouled in the box and Hodges sent the keeper the wrong way to seal the win. Man of the Match: Steve Heffer Thurrock: Knight, Collis, Goodfellow (Purdie 44), McFarlane ©, Goddard, Bowes (Cross 66), Hodges, Heffer, Carthy, Lee (Harper 45), O’Connor.
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