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Adams double salvages unbeaten home league record - 29/9/07

United said farewell to their 100% league record at the Pilot Field this afternoon, although Sam Adams' second half double at least ensured that a relatively listless encounter against East Thurrock United ended all-square. The visitors, without a goal in a run of five consecutive defeats heading into this contest, will have been much the happier of the two sides for both the result and their respective performance, with United not really raising their game until the closing quarter of an hour after they had fallen behind for the first time in the match. But Sam's well-worked second saw honours finish even, with an earlier penalty having finally kick-started the encounter into life, following a lacklustre opening forty-five minutes, Gary Ansell and Danny Harris scoring for the visitors to give them hope of claiming a win that neither side truly deserved on the day.

Whether in response to the cruel manner of Tuesday's defeat at Hornchurch, or just a further example of manager Nigel Kane's squad rotation policy, United showed two changes in their defensive line-up this afternoon. Right back Danny Spice and centre half Rhys Whyborne were both omitted from the starting eleven, with Jimmy Elford switching flanks, Russell Eldridge dropping into the back four, Kevin Rose and Dan Williams earning recalls in defence and central midfield respectively, and Lee Carey reverting to a left wing role. But with Tim Olorunda the only ongoing injury absentee, United were able to name the same sixteen man squad for the third game running. Jimmy, Russell and Sean Ray were the only three United players to have featured in the sole previous meeting between the two sides, a 3-0 FA Trophy victory for East Thurrock at the Pilot Field just shy of three years ago, while the visitors this afternoon named four of their squad from that day, including skipper Lee Burns, who would cause United problems down the right hand side all afternoon, and the others being Dean Chandler, Jon Turnbull and substitute Keith Martin. Recently signed keeper Shane Gore had seen plenty of experience at Conference level with Barnet, with whom he won the title in 2004/05, and Stevenage Borough.

Chances at either end within the opening two minutes seemed to bode well for a thrilling afternoon, Ansell glancing a Dave Collis free kick just wide at Lee Worgan's end, and Sean just failing to connect with Russell's inswinger at the other. However, the contest quickly settled into a fairly turgid affair, with the visitors producing the majority of what little flowing football there was on show. Clearcut chances were few and far between for long periods of the first half though, with Gore saving Russell's long range free kick, and Ansell toe-poking a shot wide after a neat flick from Burns, the only other efforts of note before the half hour mark. East Thurrock lost defender Chandler to injury, after he stretched to make a vital interception of a long ball from Jimmy, midfielder Turnbull dropping back to form a makeshift partnership with Bradley Stevens. Jamie Richards fired a long range effort just wide, before hurrying another shot moments later and again failing to test Lee, while Ade Olorunda almost took advantage of some hesitant defending from Stevens, running onto Lee Carey's ball over the top but allowing Gore to get a hand on the ball and giving Ashley Dumas the opportunity to clear. The one moment of true quality in the first half occurred nine minutes before the break, Burns latching onto a pass from substitute Scott Carley, surging into the right hand side of the area, and connecting with a thumping volley that Lee Worgan superbly managed to tip away for a corner. The Rocks continued to look the more likely scorers as the interval approached, with Dan Williams getting in a crucial block to divert a Carley shot over the bar, while from the resulting corner, Richards flicked a near post shot over the top, with the goal apparently at his mercy.

United's response to their indifferent showing in the opening forty-five minutes was to switch to a 3-5-2 formation after the restart, Dan dropping into a defensive trio, and Jimmy and Russell moving into wing back positions. And it was from his new, more attacking role that Jimmy produced a long ball over the top of the East Thurrock defence, sending Tom Poole in on goal less than three minutes after the interval, and although he seemed to deny himself a goalscoring chance by trying to step back inside Stevens' challenge, the ball struck the defender on the arm as he fell to ground, and the referee had no hesitation in awarding United a penalty. Sam drove the spot kick high to Gore's right, the keeper getting a good hand to the shot, but only able to palm the ball into the roof of the net. The visitors responded with an Ansell downward header from a Burns cross that was safely gathered by Lee Worgan, but their equaliser was not long in coming, and arrived in somewhat dubious circumstances from United's point of view. Initially, they were undone by a simple enough long ball that sent Harris into the area, where he tumbled under Sean's evidently legal challenge and stayed down, with the ball trapped beneath him. United's defenders stopped and time almost stood still for a moment, in expectation of the referee's whistle to halt the game and to allow Harris to receive treatment, but the ball was suddenly flicked across the edge of the six yard box, towards the unmarked Ansell, who defied Lee's attempts to distract him and tucked a shot just inside the post. Ansell picked up a knock in the process of scoring, and was forced to hobble off a few minutes later, although not before providing a teasing low cross that Lee did well to cut out, while Tom brought an outstanding save out of Gore with a first time volley from Jimmy's chipped cross. On a day when goals came largely out of nothing, East Thurrock then grabbed the lead with seventeen minutes remaining, when Burns deep corner ran through to Richards beyond the far post, the striker chipping the ball back into the centre for Harris to apply a simple headed finish. Sean went close with a header from Russell's corner, before Scott Kirkwood replaced Nima Cham in the centre of midfield, signaling an immediate upturn in United's fortunes, with an equaliser following in the seventy-eighth minute. Lee Carey played the ball down the right hand side to Ade, who turned quickly past Stevens and cut an intelligent cross back for Sam to sweep a low shot past Gore and into the corner. Russell and Scott forced Gore into awkward saves, and Russell's near post cross then provided Sam with a hattrick opportunity, but his flick went narrowly over the bar. It was to prove United's last chance of note, despite the fact that they retained the upper hand for the rest of the game, although a winner at either end would have been extremely harsh on the side to have conceded it.

After a curiously dissatisfying afternoon, it was difficult to know whether this draw represented a point gained, or two dropped, against a side that had topped the table in the opening weeks of the season before collapsing alarmingly of late. United can at least still boast that unbeaten record, in the league anyway, but they will perhaps face their sternest Pilot Field test to date when title favourites Chelmsford come to town next weekend. Before that, a somewhat reduced strength line-up is expected to take the field for a League Cup tie at Horsham on Tuesday evening.

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Hastings United (4-4-2)							East Thurrock United (4-4-2)
1 Lee Worgan							1 Shane Gore
2 Jimmy Elford							2 Dave Collis
3 Russell Eldridge							3 Ashley Dumas
4 Kevin Rose							4 Bradley Stevens
5 Sean Ray (c)							5 Dean Chandler
6 Nima Cham							6 Max Cornhill
7 Sam Adams							7 Lee Burns (c)
8 Dan Williams							8 Jon Turnbull
9 Ade Olorunda							9 Gary Ansell
10 Tom Poole							10 Jamie Richards
11 Lee Carey							11 Danny Harris
Substitutes
12 Scott Kirkwood (for Cham 75)							12 Keith Martin (for Cornhill 81)
14 Danny Ellis							14 Ben Boyce (for Ansell 63)
15 Rhys Whyborne (for Rose 63)							15 Scott Curley (for Chandler 25)
16 John Bradley							16 Wes Faulkner
17 Danny Spice

Attendance 475

Referee Ian Crouch (New Eltham)

Assistants Mark Huggins (Tunbridge Wells) & Darren Eaton (Brighton)