Hakan's tears as Thurrock survive

AFTER a season when the footballing gods have rarely smiled on Thurrock, everything came together on an anxious last day of the season.

At 4.20 on Saturday afternoon, Thurrock were heading out of the Conference South. Held at 0-0 by a hard-working, somewhat robust Sutton side Fleet looked unlikely to conjure a goal and their relegation rivals Hayes and Basingstoke were doing enough to ensure their survival.

However, as so often happens on the last day of the season, thing altered dramatically.

Cliff Akurang grabbed the goal that gave Thurrock the initiative, Sutton's goalkeeper was unjustly sent off and then Hayes, fighting for survival just a few miles away over the Thames at Welling, conceded the goal that ultimately saw them relegated.

Thurrock went on to win their match by three goals, Hayes couldn't come back and even Basingstoke were overhauled as they could only draw at Salisbury.

In the end the tears of joy were shed at Ship Lane and manager Hakan Hayrettin gets to fight another day at this level.

An always honest man who wears his heart on his sleeve, the former Waltham Forest boss's belief that his side would survive was proven, but he acknowledged it had been a close run thing and he knows there are a great many lessons to be learned.

When he was unveiled at the start of the season as Fleet's new boss, the much travelled former pro spoke of how he believed that youngsters with the ability to battle would be the way forward.

Nine months on, he admitted he had put too much faith in untried talent.

He said: "I am so glad for this club that we have come through. It had been a long, hard-fought battle and I'm delighted that we have proved so many people wrong.

"Plenty of people were queuing up to say we would go down but we have stayed up.

"I have learned an enormous amount and to be honest one of the keys things I have learned is that there is so substitute for ability.

"Sometimes that costs a lost of money but you have to be prepared to invest in it. Hard work and enthusiasm will get you so far but there is no substitute for class and our job as a club now is to go forward and find the way to match our resources to the best players who can do a job for us."

Hayrettin was also the first to acknowledge that his side had received the best of fortune in Saturday's win, but pointed to many games over the season where things had gone against the club.

"Today we got some breaks, their keeper shouldn't have been sent off and we got lucky with results elsewhere but I honestly think we deserved the breaks for the amount of hard work and effort we have put in," he said.

At half time, things had looked bleak for Fleet.

Despite the urgency of the occasion they looked lack-lustre and far from up for the fight.

At the back they looked lethargic, the midfield was pedestrian and what chances came their way were squandered.

Indeed they were lucky to go in on level terms.

A slip when turning by Greg Heald let in Sutton's Ross Gaynor after 15 minutes but he shot across the face of goal when well placed and then Tony Quinton had the ball in the back of the net and was celebrating with the travelling fans before he realised a linesman's flag had ruled him offside.

It was a marginal decision but one that Thurrock were grateful for, though they were less pleased with some of the unpunished tackles that were flying in from Sutton. Solomon Taiwo was particularly lucky to get away without even a caution for two flying two-footed challenges.

At the other end when Thurrock did prise open the Sutton defence a lack of conviction sold them short.

Wes Thomas, who himself looked a pace below his best and was clearly troubled by an injury, managed to conjure up a trademark dribble and cross that set a header up for Hasan Nyang but his header was hopelessly tame and wide and then a cross from Nyang picked out Akurang but his header merely pooped up for keeper Luke Naughton to pick up unchallenged.

Thurrock were then forced into a change when defender Danny Lunan came off, to be replaced by David Bryant, something that briefly pepped up the home side and Leon Mackenzie was unfortunate to see his close range shot well blocked.

Sutton were still dishing out the rough stuff and other unpleasant challenge from Paul Honey eventually forced a yellow card from reluctant ref Paul Barnes in the closing minutes of the first half.

Thurrock went into the break knowing that Hayes were leading Welling and Basingstoke drawing at Sutton so their position was precarious.

They did show a little more invention on the start and almost immediately Thomas fired the ball across the face of goal but just past the post.

Thomas was then lucky to escape a red card for a late, foot up challenge on the keeper as he chased down a long ball forward. It was perhaps another indication that the footballing gods were going to look kindly on Fleet.

With increasing impetus Thurrock began to bear down on the visitors and some trickery by Bryant ended with a shot over the bar and then defender Matt Paine chanced his arm with a deflected shot that Naughton was grateful to gather.

Time looked to be ticking away though and the news from elsewhere was still gloomy. Nerves were beginning to fray but on 70 minutes the afternoon began to turn.

Akurang, who has looked lethargic for much of the match, latched onto a bouncing through ball, chased it under pressure to the edge of the box and unleashed a looping shot over Naughton into the back of the net.

And ten minutes later things looked even rosier.

Heald had just conjured up a fine back-pedalling goal-line clearance from Craig Tanner's header after the Sutton player had out jumped Thurrock keeper Matt Mann - who was standing in for regular stopper Max Aneke who was unavailable because of a family bereavement and then, at just about the same time as Des Boateng was equalising for Welling against Hayes, Thomas found himself on a one-on-one with Naughton having raced half the length of the field.

For once the Thurrock striker's first touch let him down and the ball ran away from him allowing Naughton the opportunity to charge out of his box and he clearly played the ball first before Thomas went tumbling over his outstretched leg.

Referee Mr Barnes, yards behind play, rushed up red-faced to issue a card of similar hue and Naughton was history.

It was a joke decision but only Thurrock were laughing and with defender Alan Bray taking on the goalkeeper's jersey, Akurang stepped up to further add to Sutton's sense of injustice. His curling free kick wasn't exactly a powerhouse but Bray was late getting down to it and could only help it into the net.

That was game over for Thurrock and they even added a third when Bray raced from his box and headed a though ball clear only for Mackenzie to finally make a telling contribution by returning a low shot into the box. It might have taken a deflection off Sutton's Ryan Palmer but Mackenzie was happy to claim the goal and few at Ship Lane were in the mood to take it off him.

With victory secured, thoughts turned elsewhere and nails, already well chewed, were bitten to the quick.

Throughout the afternoon, Thurrock's match had been a few minutes in front of the two relevant matches elsewhere but a head injury to stand-in keeper Bray, flattened and knocked cold when he bravely threw himself into a challenge, meant time literally stood still at Ship Lane.

Bray was still shaking off the injury when the news came through that Basingstoke had been held at Salisbury and Hayes, ultimately relegated, had been unable to find a winner at Welling.

Celebrations ensured on the pitch and off it and referee Barnes did the most sensible thing of his afternoon by restarting play with Bray off the pitch, and no-one in the visitors' goal, and blowing the final whistle a few seconds later.

There was a tangible sense of relief all around the ground and a few tears shed, with Hayrettin among those with wetted eyes.

He can now set his sights on building on his first campaign in charge but can take credit from proving the club's many critics and doubters wrong - even if it came down to the last 20 minutes of a remarkable season in the club's short history.

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