West Essex 0 - Maldon & Tiptree 3

Maldon & Tiptree came through their FA Cup replay against West Essex on Tuesday night in a game that threatened to go all night.

The most notable Jammers change was in the dugout, where Liam Bailey took interim charge of the team following Peter Taylor's departure on Sunday.

Maldon started well, showing far more attacking intent than Saturday's lacklustre display and it only took the opening seconds for Terrell Egbri to worry the home side, drawing a freekick on the right hand byline that was dealt with by captain Mitch Arthur.

With 10 minutes played, Egbri drew another freekick in an identical position, George Smith heading at Michael Corderoy who gathered at the second time of asking.

It took a while for West Essex to get going in an attacking sense, but posed a threat when they did. Billy Jones (surely not the same Billy Jones who captained my Man Utd side to so many trophies on Football Manager?) who'd entered as an early sub- shooting wide with Dillion Woods finding plenty of space on the wing to cross in after 25 minutes.

And then, it all went dark as the floodlights gave way. The ground staff tried again and again to get them back on without success and it looked like the referee would abandon the game.

20 minutes passed until mercifully, the lights roared into life, perhaps egged on by the DJ's excellent choice of "All Of The Lights" by Kanye West.

The hosts tried to make the most of the disruption and resumed the first half brightly, with David Bell seeing his goal bound effort blocked by a forest of bodies.

The turning point in the game came on 39 minutes when Callum Stringer's goalbound effort was deflected home by West Essex defender Emmanuel Oluwole, completely wrong footing Corderoy.

Oluwole went some way to atoning for his misfortune three minutes later, blocking an almost certain goal with a great tackle.

With half time looming, the hosts pushed forward for an equaliser. Ike Olaiya looked the most likely to make something happen, shooting wide and then playing in Bell who also fired wide of Maldon's goal.

With the floodlight failure and fair amount of stoppages through injuries for the home side, half time eventually arrived in the early hours of Wednesday morning with the Jammer's noses just in front.

Maldon, perhaps wary of the danger West Essex posed, set about increasing their lead, winning a quick succession of corners. Smith saw a shot deflected wide for yet another attempt and Stringer had a header cleared off the line by Reece Clarke.

The game descended into something of a scrap for the next 15 minutes. Although a good take by Saturday's hero, Middlehurst allowed him to release Egbri who ran the length of the pitch before being crudely taken out for a freekick which came to nothing as the ball drifted out for a goal kick.

Olaiya dragged a shot across the face of Middlehurst's goal as the home side looked to restore parity with 20 minutes left before Egbri was again taken out for a Jammers freekick that Smtih couldn't quite bring under control when played in by Jaggs.

Smith would eventually get the goal his work and endeavor deserved to put the game to bed, outmuscling his defender before turning another one inside out and calmly sliding home past Corderoy in the West Essex goal.

Jones nearly set up a grandstand finish just a few minutes later, crashing a wonderful strike off the underside of the bar from all of 20 yards out.

It wasn't to be and in added time, Louie Remi added a third, intercepting a clearance from Corderoy and rifling through the goalkeeper's hands to end a difficult few days in positive fashion.

Next up is a trip to Lowestoft Town on Saturday (August 26) as we turn our attentions back to the League.

We follow that on Bank Holiday Monday 29 August with a home league game against Grays. At this game, the club will hold a food bank collection for Maldon Food Pantry. Please come along and be as generous as you can be.