Tilbury 3-3 Waltham Forest

Nine man Waltham Forest came back from Tilbury with a fantastic point, but in truth, they should have taken all three.

True to occasion, there were fireworks in both halves in a match of many chances.

Forest were without Ben Gracey at the back, so Lukman Mojeed was forced to play at the back. Jeff Hammond was still not fully recovered from the injury he picked up against Maldon & Tiptree, and sat out the match on the bench.

The home side bossed the game in the opening couple of minutes, but Forest got the first goal of the match on three minutes, in their first attack of the match.

Manu Dagher found room on the left flank, and fired a rasping shot towards the near post, beating James Marrable in the Tilbury goal. Dagher was denied by the post, but fortunately for Forest Josh Bonnett was on the other end of the deflection to fire in.

Tilbury almost hit back immediately when Erol Aitken forced some space and attempted a curling shot into the top right corner, but his effort fell just wide.

The home side then went even closer to a goal, when West fired from distance, only to be denied by the foot of the post.

On 20 minutes, Tilbury got themselves back into match. Peggy Lokando gave away a weak free-kick in midfield which was taken quickly and fired into the run of Read who slotted the ball coolly under the advancing Omand.

On 35, Tilbury earned a free-kick on the edge of the Forest area. Forest failed to clear the kick, and Gaz Dauti was adjudged to have handled the ball from a shot which the referee interpreted as going towards goal. The main consensus from the crowd was that this was a harsh decision as the ball was not only going away from goal, but Dauti was on the edge of the six-yard box, rather than on the line, as the referee adjudged.

Despite guessing the right way, Omand was unable to keep out Sam West’s powerful spot-kick.

Five minutes later things got even worse for Forest. Lukman Mojeed failed to clear a high bouncing ball, and eventually lost his footing. This allowed Cook to steal the ball and fire a powerful shot past Omand.

At half time it seemed as if it would be a matter of ‘how many?’ for Tilbury, but Forest came out for the second half showing that they would not be bullied, and immediately put Tilbury on the back foot.

With only three second half minutes played, Josh Bonnett was given the ball on the right wing. His trickery got him through two Tilbury defenders, and then unselfishly cut back for Joel Palmer to fire in from just inside the penalty area.

Bonnett then had a chance to level the score, but was pushed over while he was shooting. His shot flew high and wide, while the referee remained unmoved.

Forest were enjoying a period of sustained pressure when they lost a man for the second time in the match.

A long ball out of the Tilbury defence was directed at Eljay Worrell, who had only him and Andras Molnar – who himself had only come on as a half time substitute – between him and the goal. Chasing the ball, Molnar and Worrell went shoulder to shoulder, the result being Worrell taking an acrobatic jump to the ground.

For the second time, the Tilbury players surrounded the referee, wielding imaginary cards, and for the second time, the referee produced a red.

Many officials would have not even given a foul, but a red card was especially harsh as the ball was fast rolling out of play, and even Worrell – one of Tilbury’s fast players – had no chance of catching it.

Tilbury then had two chances to extend their lead. Lukman Mojeed did well to clear off the line, and Aitkin header over at the back post when unmarked.

On 88, Richard Shittu came on for Joel Palmer, and made an immediate impact. Shittu flicked on a free kick into the box, where Manu Dagher brought the ball down excellently, turned and fired a shot into the bottom corner.

Forest then had two chances in injury time when they could have won the match.

Dagher had a one on one opportunity, but fired high and wide under the pressure of a Tilbury defender.

Richard Shittu then had the best chance of all in the 97th minute of the match. After being given the freedom of the right wing. Shittu advanced with the ball until he was one on one, but waited too long before shooting or passing. Eventually, he squared it to Josh Bonnett whose first touch was slightly poor, and he could only fire over.

Forest showed so much heart and commitment in the second half, that a point was the least that they deserved. The team showed that they would not be bullied by typical non-league tactics, and their continued football throughout the match gave them a point which moved them back up to seventh in the table.

Man of the match: Elton Sackey

Photos from Andrzej Perkins:
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