Charlee Hughes netted twelve minutes from time to help Maldon to a very hard-fought victory against Hullbridge Sports at Lower Road and send them to the top of the Isthmian North table as a result.
The hosts knew the size of the task ahead of them prior to kick off, playing against a side who were unbeaten in the league and had recently beaten Leyton Orient and then pushed Newport County all the way in their well-documented FA Cup run, and they came into this game off the back of a 4-0 win at Witham Town.
Hullbridge themselves haven’t been getting the rub of the green lately too and sat 16th in the division and knew a win could pull them further away from the drop zone, and in football you have to believe you can beat the team in front of you, even if others don’t give you much hope.
The first chance of the game fell the way of the visitors and saw a flick towards goal by Girdlestone brilliantly saved by Greene, and then Slew had another effort at the hosts goal but Greene was right behind it to save that too.
The hosts though were more than matching their opponents and saw a Sotoyinbo effort from outside the box tipped over by McNamara as the game reached the half hour mark, and then soon after Sotoyinbo should of put the home side ahead but his effort was again saved by McNamara.
Maldon then attacked and saw Dombaxe cut inside but send an effort well wide of the near post, but the visiting side were not having things their own way and were cutting a frustrated figure as the break drew closer.
It had been a satisfying half for the hosts who had gone toe to toe with arguably one of the best teams in the division, and went off at half time with their heads head high, whilst for the visitors they knew they were in a game and had work to do to try and figure a way to beat this side in front of them.
Half Time Hullbridge Sports 0 Maldon & Tiptree 0
The visitors came out brightly early on in the second half and saw an Awotwi mishit cross almost loop in the hosts net but ended up on the roof of it instead, before Parish then whistled an effort over the hosts bar.
And Parish, who netted all four of Maldon’s midweek goals at Witham Town, stung the palms of Greene as The Jammers looked like they were beginning to ramp up the pressure on their opponents.
Awotwi then got in down the right for the visitors but Greene managed to turn his effort behind, and after all that pressure from the visiting side, Hullbridge then mounted an attack of their own and saw Okunja in and it looked for all the world he would find the back of the net but for a terrific block from a covering defender to deny him.
Salmon then whipped in a decent effort towards goal from outside the box, but Maldon keeper McNamara just about managed to gather under pressure, and the game had around fifteen minutes to go.
In the 78th minute though Maldon found a way through as Slew sent a lovely through ball perfectly into the path of Hughes, and the young forward slotted beyond Greene into the far corner and the way the visitors celebrated the goal showed you how relieved they were to have broken through.
The hosts brought on Gilchrist to try and find a response, and he almost made an impact when his flick towards the Jammers net was saved by McNamara, before down the other end Hughes so nearly got on the end of a ball into the box, but Greene came and just about got there ahead of the striker.
The hosts then put quite a bit of late pressure on the visitors who were hanging on a bit towards the end, but they managed to keep the hosts at bay to run out winners in this one. The visitors showed championship credentials here by winning whilst not at their best, whereas Hullbridge could be proud of their efforts and would of felt a draw was probably the fair result.
Maldon go top of the division after teams above them lost, whilst Hullbridge sit just a point above the bottom two in 16th after teams below them picked up points.
Full Time Hullbridge Sports 0 Maldon & Tiptree 1
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