Tilbury 0, Harlow Town 1
REALITY slapped Tilbury's new management team slap back in the face inside 40 seconds of their first match in charge.
Debutants Darren Spinks, Chris Sorhaindo and Matthew Judge were introduced to the Dockers' starting line-up by management pairing Garry Kimble and Neil Speight but within a minute, shoddy defending allowed Harlow's Mark Nougher to fire his side ahead from close range.
Fullbacks Spinks and Sorhaindo were among a number of Tilbury players to fail to put in a solid challenge as Harlow worked the ball around the penalty area and the reshaped home side were still finding their feet with each other on the hard and frosty surface when the ball hit the back of the net.
From then on, most of the remaining 89 minutes were dominated by Tilbury but they failed to find the cutting edge that has eluded them all season.
Home keeper Dave Macartney was rarely troubled after the opening minute though his Harlow counterpart Glenn Jackson, despite being behind a defence that was under lots of pressure, also rarely had to extend himself.
Tilbury had chances to draw level in the first half when Judge, who made an increasing contribution as the game went on, and Ben Yiadom, had strikes at goal but they failed to work Jackson.
After the break Tilbury managed to step up the pace and peg their visitors back in their own half for much of the game.
However they lacked the ability to create clear cut chances.
Their best effort came from a fierce, dipping long range drive from Judge that rattled the crossbar and bounced down on the line before eluding the onrushing black and white-shirted players eager to force home an equaliser.
Other half chances came and went as Tilbury won several corners and free-kicks but they failed to dislodge a visiting defence that stood resolute in defence of the early lead. At the other end Harlow came agonisingly close to extending their lead with a header that went just over.
Few would argue that Tilbury deserved at least a point from the match, but that remains the story of the season for the Chadfields side.
Postponed matches and a number of draws meant they didn't lose too much ground on their relegation rivals, though they have edged moved nine points away from safety.
Kimble and Speight believe the gap remains closeable but acknowledged they cannot rely on lady luck.
Kimble said: "We deserved something from today's match but there's no point in bleating about bad luck. They defended in numbers and did well after we gifted them a goal so we've no one to blame but ourselves. I've told the players that the bulk of them are the ones that got us into this mess, they have to be the ones to battle and get us out of it.
"I wasn't happy with the first half but we couldn't fault the commitment of most of the them in the second. We threw everything but the kitchen sink at them and were Judgy will never go closer to scoring a better goal without netting, but close doesn't get you anything and we have to step it up, work harder, create and convert our chances and hope that results elsewhere go in our favour."
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