Soham Town Rangers 3 Tilbury 0

Ely Standard: Soham v ChathamSoham v Chatham (Image: Archant)

Ryman league manager of the month Steve Fallon saw his Soham side pick a sixth straight win in a row on Tuesday night.

Substitute Ben Sawyer sparked the Greens, giving them the lead, before Luke Stanley’s last-gasp double wrapped up all three points for Fallon’s men as they moved up into ninth place.

Ryan Sharman made his full debut in place of the absent Joey Abbs and, while Soham clearly missed the influential midfielder, a hard-working display demonstrated that winning without their stand-out performers is certainly achievable with confidence so high.

The visitors proved to be much tougher opponents for Soham than recent challengers as the Greens edged what was an uninspiring first half.

However, Tilbury came close to taking the lead after 60 minutes when Danny Francis’ close-range attempt trickled past Enol Ordonez only to be denied by the post.

Introduced shortly before the hour mark, Sawyer wasted no time in impacting on proceedings, breaking the deadlock after 75 minutes.

A magnificent leap from the diminutive forward saw him outjump his marker to connect with fellow substitute Scott Davis’ long pinpoint pass, sending a looping header past Tilbury keeper Chico Ramos.

The Dockers were reduced to 10 men five minutes from time after midfielder Sam Cutler was shown two yellow cards in quick succession for dissent, and it did not take long for Soham to capitalise.

Aiming to expose Tilbury’s back line, Buster Harradine found Stanley with a high ball, allowing the club’s leading goal scorer to round the oncoming Ramos and slot home – much to the relief of the home support.

Stanley sealed his brace in unlikely fashion as the game drew to a close. With Ramos off his line and a red shirt flying in to tackle, the striker sent an ambitious long-range effort spiralling over the keeper for his 17th goal of the season.

Fallon, newly-crowned manager of the month for November after taking maximum points from five games, acknowledged it wasn’t his side’s best performance.

Abbs’ loss played a big part, but Fallon praised his player’s persistence in securing the win.

He said: “Tilbury closed us down and made it difficult for us, but when Sawyer came on we had a little bit of pace. We defended our box well and our keeper is quick off his line and swept up.

“Nobody went and hid, even though things weren’t going well. We were making mistakes and the quality wasn’t there but we kept going.”

He also revealed that Soham will be without Jordan Gent for their next challenge, a trip to mid-table Barkingside on Saturday.