It was a bright and breezy day as we headed off to Lower Road for the crucial encounter between The Bridge and 14th placed Tilbury. Here’s the line ups:

Hullbridge: 1 Lewis Greene 2 Sam Duileu 3 Matthew Rose 4 Samuel Brogan (Demaray Anyadike 87’) 5 Emmanuel Folarin 6 Alex Moss 7 Kieran Bailey (Ross Elsom 87’) 8 Albert Levett 9 Tony Stokes (Capt) 10 Luke Hornsley 11 Joe Gregory (George Smith 62’) subs: 12 Ross Elsom 13 Ryan Karrer 14 Abdus Salami 15 Demaray Anyadike 16 George Smith

Tilbury: 1 Lamar Johnson 2 Jermaine Anderson 3 Jordan Peart (Igli Metalia 66’) 4 Remi Nelson 5 Jamal Allen 6 Ayo Shogbeni 7 William Harris 8 Lee Noble 9 Roman Campbell (Capt) (Harry Upton 79’) 10 Brian Moses 11 Chris Millar (Charles Bampoe 40’) subs: 12 Charles Bampoe 14 Igli Metalia 15 Sam Jeremiah 16 Harry Upton 17 Eljay Worrell

Hullbridge started the game OK and I don’t think anyone was expecting what came next as Tilbury took the vital 3 points with a difficult to explain 4-0 victory.
Hullbridge were well in the game but struggling with the final ball and 5 minutes of madness before half-time saw The Dockers score 3 in quick succession.
Luke Hornsley was getting loads of space down the left side, despite the Tilbury offside trap and on 15 minutes he delivered a pinpoint Cross for Stokesy to nod home to put Hullbridge 1-0 up. Or so we thought... but the officials ruled offside, although watching video of the goal, it was clearly on. This sort of stuff can change games and Tilbury made the most of their reprieve when the impressive Roman Campbell put them ahead on 26 with a neat finish.

An injury to Chris Millar sparked the mad 5 minutes as replacement Charles Bampoe came on and promptly buried a right-foot finish. 2-0, but it got worse as Tilbury were awarded 2 pens about 30 seconds apart just before the half-time whistle. I missed the challenge for the first one as I had just returned from the bar with a pint of Guinness and it was, apparently, a possible free-kick to Sports but the 2nd looked a pen from where I stood, admittedly at a distance. Both were despatched, Bampoe with his second to make it 3 and William Harris made it 4.
In addition to all that, Stokesy had hit the post twice and we had played OK. How was it 4-0?

The second half saw some neat football from Tilbury, mostly on the floor despite having 4 or 5 players well over 6 foot or as the wife said “they’re like the land of the giants”. They played with the freedom of that 4-goal cushion, but it was definitely not our day as even when Stokesy was fouled in the box the keeper saved the resultant spot-kick. We were hoping for some damage limitation and to preserve our goal difference and this we got as, despite our best efforts & the noise from the young Hullbridge “Ultras” behind the goal, Tilbury ran out 4-0 winners and also hit the post and bar in the second half.

A difficult day not helped when 2 regular Sports defenders were stranded on the M11 after a blowout (as in tyre, not full English breakfast!) and this was a game I had down as a must-win but that’s football and the lads need to bounce back against Basildon United next week in another must-win encounter.

Sports Star (Hullbridge man of the match) Luke Hornsley, always dangerous and free down the left and delivered an excellent cross for Stokesy ‘s “goal ” that wasn’t.