The Tilbury grounds-men had their work cut out for them today and should be commended for preparing the pitch after it had been Raining all morning leaving the pitch extremely soft in places.

The game kicked off at a furious pace with the Bee's looking the more dangerous in the early minutes of the game, Carl Prince Manor's No 1 did well to hold on to a blistering shot from 20 yards out, diving low to his right handside to keep the score level.

Early pressure from Basildon as they pinned the Manor back into their own half, the Manor hit back on the counter and should have scored when Terry Hunt sent a great ball over the top of the retreating Basildon defence into the path of Lenny Nicholls who appeared to lose his footing just before he was going to shoot, and could only watch as the ball went out of play.

Not deterred the Manor start to pick up their game, Jamie Wallace collecting the ball in his own half and starts a move down the right hand side, Wallace pushed the ball forward and shouts for offside from the Basildon bench ignored by the ref as Wallace was pushing the ball forward for himself to attack, Wallace then starts to cut inside the Bee's area and with two defenders snapping at his heels, gently lays the ball into he path of Lenny Nicholls who coolly plants the ball into the back of the net, 1-0 to the Braves with 6 mins gone.

The Manor on the attack again, this time Terry Hunt lays a fabulous ball to the feet of new signing Charlie Tarten who crushes the ball just over the bar.

Basildon working tremendously hard to find an opening of their own, get a free kick from 30 yards out, the ball goes deep into the area and Manor's Skipper Steve Reading who appears to get better with every game takes control and clears his line.

21st minute and a midfield blunder by the Manor allows Basildon possession in a dangerous position, Basildon do extremely well to work through a packed defence to slot home past the outstretched hands of Carl Prince making it 1-1.

The Manor take a corner, Chris Barratt up high and nods the ball just wide of the Basildon post.

Jamie Wallace showing his class, running back 50 yards + to chase down and thwarted a Basildon attack.

Manor's Striker Ricky Defreitas having a quite start to the game, now starting to cause Basildon a few headaches, his darting pace and reluctance to accept a lost course when he sees one, puts the Manor in the driving seat, when he collects the ball from the halfway line, using lightening speed to gain a few yards & lets fly a 40 yard cracker into the top corner of the net, the celebrations afterwards was in tune with the brilliance of the goal.

The pitch starting to break up and for the remainder of the first half the game becoming a muddy affair, both teams being very cautious not to make any mistakes on this slippery surface.

Second half:-

A few minutes into the re-start and Ricky Defreitas sending another warning sign to Basildon, with the ball at this feet heading towards goal, lets fly another blaster this time just over the bar.

Carl Price needing to be on form as the Bee's try and take control of the game, wave after wave of attacks in the sticky mud proved fruitless.

Lenny Nicholls working so hard, dropping back to help in defence gives the Braves the edge to crowd out Basildon.

Glenn Connolly and Tony Marsh having to earn their keep as the Bee's use the flanks to make an opening, nervous moments for the Braves as Basildon pour down on the Manor goal.

Glenn Connolly sending Defreitas on his way towards the Basildon goal, Defreitas one on one with the Keeper who does enough to palm the ball away for a corner.

78 minutes gone and the Bee's best chance to equalise goes begging after a poor back pass leaves Prince having to come out of his goal to clear, not before a Bee's striker darts in to shoot past Prince, luckily for the Manor the ball just creeping past the post.

Carl Prince again forced to prove his worth, going to ground to swipe the ball off of the feet of a Bee's striker to stop a great opportunity.

A plethora of free kicks on the edge of the box for Basildon cause the Manor concern, however, the Manor defence handling the situation well to defuse any danger.

The Bee's now desperate to find an equaliser, put more pressure on the Braves, the pitch now a mud bath and late tackles are in abundance from both sides, the Manor looking uneasy and need another goal to settle the nerves, this was provided in the 90th minute when some great build up play from Terry Hunt & Ricky Defreitas put hard working Lenny Nicholls just inside the box to fire home Manor's third and his second of the game.

With 5 minutes of injury time left to play the Manor simply spread the ball around the pitch and kept possession to finish the game 3-1.

Full credit to Basildon who were unlucky at times, but should have taken a grip of the game, simply failed to bury their chances and were made to pay for it.

The Manor boys are looking more cohesive has a team, playing good football to feet and making the opposing team work for a change, seems to be the difference within their game right now, a few new additions with Nicholls, Tarten, Defreitas & The return of Glenn Connolly seems to have given the team more balance and width.

An overall good team performance today from the Braves and difficult to choose one player as Man of the Match, however, there was one player that stood out from the crowd, Lenny Nicholls, who not only worked hard for the team but scored two goals in the process.

Manor Man of the Match

Lenny Nicholls

Manor Team: Prince, Barratt, Reading (Capt), Marsh, Tarten, Canham, Wallace, Nicholls, Hunt, Defreitas, Connolly. Subs: Richard, Lewis, Jenkins,Chester, Warren.

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