Thurrock 1-1 Eastleigh
27th January 2007 - Thurrock 1 Eastleigh 1
Report by Ray Murphy
Despite having the better of the play and a whole host of scoring opportunities, Eastleigh returned from Essex with only a point to show from their toils against fellow lowly placed side Thurrock.
Manager Jason Dodd gave a first start to recent signing Steve Watts whilst Liam George retained his place in the side with Jamie Brown coming into the starting eleven at the expense of Darren Wheeler.
Eastleigh applied early pressure on the Thurrock goal the best chance falling to Karim El Salahi but his effort was saved by home goalkeeper Max Aneke. George limped away from the action on the quarter of an hour mark with a knee ligament injury to be replaced by Steve Forbes. One of Forbes’ first tastes of action saw his shot pushed away by Aneke.
With eighteen minutes played from a Danny Smith corner, Watts headed the ball on for Andy Forbes whose turn and shot brought another fine stop from Aneke. On the half hour mark a Brown long-range effort brought another stop from Aneke followed a minute later by Tarkan Mustafa’s cross being controlled by Andy Forbes but the striker fired the effort over the bar.
Eastleigh continued holding the upper hand, another Steve Forbes header from a Francis Benali cross went just over the bar shortly before the game turned against The Spitfires. With two minutes to go to the interval El Salahi was adjudged to have fouled Wesley Thomas on the edge of the D of the Eastleigh area. Step forward Scott Canham who delightfully flighted a ball over the Eastleigh defensive wall to nestle in the corner of the net and put Thurrock a goal up with their first on target shot of the game.
The second half still saw Eastleigh in the ascendancy. Eight minutes into the second period David Hughes free kick was flicked in by Watts and Smith guided his header over Aneke into the net only to be met by the assistant referee flag aloft, for an offside decision.
On the hour Watts headed a Smith cross back across the face of goal but Steve Forbes shot wide of the target. Thurrock were reduced to ten men after seventy four minutes Ludovic Dje was shown a straight red card following a clash with Smith and five minutes later Eastleigh were level. Hughes’ cross into the area was handled by Ben Wood and Watts slotted home the penalty.
Try as they might, Eastleigh could not make a final breakthrough and grab a winner to gain the three points that they deserved. Watts’ free kick from an identical position from which Thurrock had earlier scored, in the final minute was tipped over the bar by Aneke and Thurrock themselves had a chance in stoppage time to claim all three points Leon McKenzie being denied by Jamie Pullen.
Report by Ray Murphy
Despite having the better of the play and a whole host of scoring opportunities, Eastleigh returned from Essex with only a point to show from their toils against fellow lowly placed side Thurrock.
Manager Jason Dodd gave a first start to recent signing Steve Watts whilst Liam George retained his place in the side with Jamie Brown coming into the starting eleven at the expense of Darren Wheeler.
Eastleigh applied early pressure on the Thurrock goal the best chance falling to Karim El Salahi but his effort was saved by home goalkeeper Max Aneke. George limped away from the action on the quarter of an hour mark with a knee ligament injury to be replaced by Steve Forbes. One of Forbes’ first tastes of action saw his shot pushed away by Aneke.
With eighteen minutes played from a Danny Smith corner, Watts headed the ball on for Andy Forbes whose turn and shot brought another fine stop from Aneke. On the half hour mark a Brown long-range effort brought another stop from Aneke followed a minute later by Tarkan Mustafa’s cross being controlled by Andy Forbes but the striker fired the effort over the bar.
Eastleigh continued holding the upper hand, another Steve Forbes header from a Francis Benali cross went just over the bar shortly before the game turned against The Spitfires. With two minutes to go to the interval El Salahi was adjudged to have fouled Wesley Thomas on the edge of the D of the Eastleigh area. Step forward Scott Canham who delightfully flighted a ball over the Eastleigh defensive wall to nestle in the corner of the net and put Thurrock a goal up with their first on target shot of the game.
The second half still saw Eastleigh in the ascendancy. Eight minutes into the second period David Hughes free kick was flicked in by Watts and Smith guided his header over Aneke into the net only to be met by the assistant referee flag aloft, for an offside decision.
On the hour Watts headed a Smith cross back across the face of goal but Steve Forbes shot wide of the target. Thurrock were reduced to ten men after seventy four minutes Ludovic Dje was shown a straight red card following a clash with Smith and five minutes later Eastleigh were level. Hughes’ cross into the area was handled by Ben Wood and Watts slotted home the penalty.
Try as they might, Eastleigh could not make a final breakthrough and grab a winner to gain the three points that they deserved. Watts’ free kick from an identical position from which Thurrock had earlier scored, in the final minute was tipped over the bar by Aneke and Thurrock themselves had a chance in stoppage time to claim all three points Leon McKenzie being denied by Jamie Pullen.
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