Witham Town continued their revival under Danny Greaves with a well-deserved 1-1 draw at Tilbury in Ryman League division one north.
The Dockers had won their last five games and moved from the lower reaches to the top half of the league, prior to Town’s visit.
But Witham were well worth their point and might have stolen all three points near the end when Nicky Muir was denied by the goalkeeper.
Greaves said: “A draw was a fair result.
“Had we won, I think we would have gone away thinking that we had nicked it.
“But with ten minutes to go, it looked as though there would only be one winner.
“Rhys Madden played very well and the likes of Chris Tucker and Neil Muir also did well for us.”
Witham started strongly and only five minutes were on the clock when Sam Taylor scored with a fierce shot.
Town had a couple of further chances to increase their lead but they were unable to add to their advantage.
Indeed, they had to rely on some superb saves from keeper Rhys Madden.
As expected Tilbury came out strongly after the break and squandered a couple of chances.
Witham defended well as a team but Tilbury equalised with 12 minutes to go when Jason Fontaine lobbed the ball over Madden.
But the new-look Witham team fought until the end and were unlucky not to grab all the points, with only the legs of keeper Andy Hall preventing Muir from grabbing a late winner.
“We worked very hard and if we play like that every week, I’m sure that we will climb the table,” added Greaves.
However, there was less festive cheer at Maldon Town as the hosts went down to a heavy 5-0 defeat by Enfield Town in division one north.
Maldon started on the back foot and conceded an early goal when, what looked like a cross, eluded everyone to go in at the far post on 11 minutes. Enfield continued to put the pressure on and were rewarded with a second after 17 minutes when Maldon keeper Charlie Hassler failed to hold on to a cross from the right and Rudi Hall was on hand to put the ball into the net.
After been given a good talking to at half-time, Maldon conceded a third within two minutes of the restart when Michael Deane was on hand to put the ball into the net after a goalmouth mix up.
Hall added the fourth from the penalty spot when the referee spotted a hand ball in the box.
And to rub salt into the wound Jeff Hammond added a fifth in the 80th minute.
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