Barking and East Ham United 2, Tilbury 2

IN one of the surprises of the day, Tilbury produced a battling performance to thwart their promotion chasing derby rivals.

In truth they deserved to take all three points from a display that belied their position eight points adrift from safety at the foot of the table.

And it is that margin from safety that ultimately proved the downfall for manager Paul Joynes who parted company with the club on Saturday evening despite his side finally showing some of the battling qualities he has been trying hard to inspire for much of the season.

Whether the win that just eluded Dockers on Saturday might have saved him is a question unlikely to be answered but it is the run of listless displays that pre-empted Saturday's game that did for the manager.

Barking boast one of the best defences in the Southern League East this season but it took Dockers just 16 minutes to breach it on Saturday when John Purches met a cross and opened the scoring.

However by half time Tilbury's old frailties appeared to have come to the fore and Barking were in front.

Their first, on the half hour came when Jay Devereux met former Tilbury player Niall Ritchie's cross and just seconds before the break Warren Haughton got on the end of another Ritchie cross to put his side ahead.

However Tilbury have usually saved their best endeavours for the second half in matches this season and Saturday proved no exception.

They were the dominant side for much of the half and thoroughly deserved to equalise on the hour mark, though there was a touch of fortune in Purches getting on the end of a rebound to net.

Several chances came and went for Tilbury to take all the points but in the end they had to settle for one - and ultimately it wasn't enough to save Joynes.