Witham's woes are added to by defeat at fellow strugglers

Bostik League division north

Witham Town’s woes continued on a damp and cold night in south Essex as they were beaten by fellow Bostik League division north strugglers Tilbury.

The Dockers started the night perched just two places above rock-bottom Witham after a run of ten winless games and while that was where the two sides stayed, Tilbury’s win left Town six points adrift of their rivals and without a league win in ten outings.

Witham made just one change to their line-up from the side that started the 3-1 defeat by Aveley on Friday, with new signing Ayo Odukoya replacing Liam Whipps.

Odukoya had joined Town the day before after a spell with Bowers & Pitsea and he was quickly in action as Witham looked to be positive from the start.

However, so were the Dockers and, considering the league positions of the two sides, the game was very open in the early stages rather than the cagey affair that may have been expected.

The home side threatened from an early corner, but it was Town who had the first meaningful sight of goal.

On 11 minutes a lofted ball into the Tilbury box came out to Kevin Coyle, who drove in a low shot that former Witham keeper Rhys Madden had to get down well to make the save from.

With neither side able to make the breakthrough, though, a bit of a stalemate developed in the testing conditions as heavy rain teemed from the sky.

Tilbury next threatened from a corner and it took a superb reaction save from Witham keeper Luca Collins to prevent an own goal after the ball had ricocheted off Elias Silgato.

Collins then had to tip the ball over his crossbar twice in quick succession after George Sykes got his head to two free-kicks into the Witham area as the hosts continued to look most dangerous from set pieces.

Darren Phillips was next to go close as his header from a corner was deflected just wide as the hosts increased the pressure on the Witham goal.

The breakthrough did eventually come when a quickly-taken free-kick almost caught Town napping on 38 minutes and Collins had to save smartly at his near post.

From the resulting corner, a Tilbury player was bundled over in the box and Lewis Smith did the honours from the penalty spot to give the home side the lead at half-time.

It was an advantage they held on to after the restart as the play became scrappy in the increasingly tough conditions as the rain continued to fall.

Witham did begin to build pressure, though, and Silgato forced a save from Madden with 12 minutes of the second half gone.

Now it was Town’s turn to have a spell of dominance as the Dockers were pinned in their own half and it took a scrambled save from Madden to deny Odukoya on 68 minutes.

Crucially, though, they were unable to turn pressure into an equaliser and paid the price on 72 minutes when possession was surrendered cheaply and Tilbury broke away to double their lead.

The second goal came after Sykes snuck away on the left and curled a low shot past Collins to give Town a mountain to climb.

The hosts were buoyed by their lead and pressed for a third that came on 78 minutes when Oli Spooner bundled the ball in from close range to rub a little extra salt in Witham’s wound.

Witham Town: Luca Collins, Luke Mallett, Ayo Adukoya (Liam Whipps 75), John Watson, Pat Ahern, Jack Kemsley, Johnny Ashman, Elias Siligato (Danny Norton 77), Kevin Coyle, Sam Owusu (Michael Osei 84), Sam Ashford.

Subs not used: Andrew Tirivanhu, Jack Isherwood.