TILBURY 1 AFC 0 (F.a. cup)
Tilbury 1 AFC Dunstable 0 (1-0 Half time)
F.A. Cup preliminary round
Chadfields 16th August 2025.
Attendance – 205
Match report by Richard Church.
Our short lived cup run came to an end with a bit of a whimper as we were dumped out by Tilbury FC – a well deserved win for them but very disappointing none the less.
The first 20 minutes was largely a battle in midfield as both sides were sussing out the other team – not surprising with two teams at the same level but having no history (to my knowledge) of having met before. There was very little in the way of clear cut chances in this period but Sean did have a first minute effort that was rather wild and wayward and well over the bar. The home team started to take control of the game mid way through the half and put the ODs under a bit of pressure but some good defensive work and good work from Matt kept the scores level. Having said that, Tali had a chance on 34 minutes but his shot was well saved by the home keeper. The ball was pushed out in to the path of George but he unfortunately shot wide.
The stand out player for Tilbury was their main striker and target man Darren Phillips and he was certainly keeping Shawn on his toes. Shawn dealt with him pretty well but it was no surprise when big Darren opened the scoring 5 minutes before half time following a poor bit of play from the visitors. We lost the ball very cheaply in midfield and the ball was played out to the right. A decent ball in to the middle was met with a thumping header back across the goal giving Matt no chance to get anywhere near it. AFC were definitely up against it as half time approached and were lucky not to concede again – that man Darren having a great chance running on to a through ball but he fired his shot over the bar. 0-1 down at half time.
The second half was very much the same as the first with neither side taking any early control. AFC had the first effort of note after the restart when Tali hit a well struck shot down low to the keepers left which he just managed to get down to and push round the post for a corner. On 54, AFC had a free kick in a good position but instead of playing the ball forward it was played back and quickly won back by Tilbury who got in to a good shooting position but the final shot just went over the bar. We put ourselves under pressure a number of times during this period of the game, but it was not all Tilbury possession and we created a decent chance just before the hour mark when Josh went marauding down the right but his cross / shot went straight in to the keepers arms.
With 65 on the clock Tilbury floated a lovely ball in to the box from a free kick which was headed in to the net but to our relief the flag went up for what must have been a tight offside. Ten minutes later the home side had another opportunity with a decent shot that was blocked by Shawn. The ball broke to a Tilbury player who should have scored but an excellent reflex save from Matt kept us in the game, but with Tilbury turning the screw and time running out it was not looking good. AFC escaped again with 9 minutes to go when Tilbury hit the net but the flag was raised again for offside. Try as might we just could not create any decent scoring opportunities and after 6 or so minutes of added time the referees whistle sounded for the end of the game and out of the F.A. cup we went.
Man of the match (as decided by the AFC committee) was Shawn Joseph.
Team line up (subs in brackets) ; Matt Bonsu, Joshua Clark-Anderson (Eric Frunza 77), Carmichael Uchenna, George Joyce (Harry Riley 87), Shawn Joseph, Mwita Mgoyo, Maks Jarzabek (Thomas Feyisitan 64), Abel Damoah-Kyeremeh (Avtandil Akhsiashvili 64), Sean Duodu, Tali Jallow (Eric Frunza 77), Kyle Brooks.
