High five as Millers reach summit

By Aveley Football Club

Millers have become the hunted as we top the table after an entertaining 5-3 win over Brentwood Town.

Going into the game the Millers knew this would definitely be a tough game against a Brentwood Town team who defeated Bowers & Pitsea 3-0 and went down swinging 5-3 away at AFC sudbury during the week before this match.

The Millers named an unchanged team going into this one, and after starting slowly against Canvey Island, we started well against Brentwood. Alex Akrofi had the first effort of the game inside 120 seconds as he saw his effort hit the side netting.

A minute later Andy Freeman had a goal ruled out for offside as he tapped in a re-bound after Marcus Milner's drive was parried out into the area for Andy Freeman to tap in but he was in an offside position.

34 photos

Match photos

Chris Smith - Post Match - Brentwood Town 02:22

We didn't have to wait long for the lead, Tom Richardson was through on goal and had his back towards goal, the visitors keepers tried to win the ball from behind Richardson, and committed a foul inside the box. Alex Akrofi stepped up and coolly slotted the ball into the goal to send the Millers in-front. Aveley 1-0 Brentwood.

After the goal we continued to look for the second goal. Shad Ngandu pulled the ball back to Marcus Milner who forced Robb Budd into another save to deny us again. Minutes later we doubled our lead. Jake Pitty played in Tom Richardson into the box, he pulled it back to Alex Akrofi who had the simple task to tap into the empty net. Aveley 2-0 Brentwood.

Into 30 minutes and the visitors did have a few chances, mostly coming from set-pieces and long throw-ins, but they also passed the ball around well to get in behind a few times, causing us a lot of problems not many teams have done this season. However, after a failed "all aboard the showboat" attempt from David Hughes, Brentwood striker Charlee Hughes took the ball and tapped into the empty net. Aveley 2-1 Brentwood.

Within sixty seconds, we got our two goal cushion back, a nice ball into Tom Richardson by Alex Akrofi, Tom twisted and turned and found the bottom corner of the goal. Aveley 3-1 Brentwood.

The goal-scoring was not done there for the first half as two goals in two minutes came again. Brentwood first pulled one back after Ryan Mallett found the top corner after a set-piece wasn't cleared and he finished well from inside the area. Aveley 3-2 Brentwood.

We wanted our two goal cushion back so again, under 60 seconds we had our fourth goal of the game. Sam Mvemba played the ball into Tom Richardson who got the ball shot towards goal and somehow found the bottom corner in off the post. Aveley 4-2 Brentwood.

Half Time | Aveley 4-2 Brentwood Town.

Into the second half and the visitors starting on top carving chance after chance but the ball bounced kindly for us until the 57th minute as Ryan Mallett found himself with the ball at the back post and he smashed the ball past two players on the line to pull Brentwood back into the game again. Aveley 4-3 Brentwood Town.

Hat-Trick Hero Tom Richardson After Beating Brentwood Town 05:04

We came back into the game and had a great chance with Tom Richardson played in on goal, but his effort was denied by a great save from Budd who tipped it away for a corner kick. From that resulting corner it came to Sam Mvemba on the edge of the area, but he couldn't get his name on the score-sheet, on that occasion.

With 24 minutes to go we restored our two goal buffer, Marcus Milner crossed into the box, Budd spilled it, it came to Tom Richardson who shifted it towards the goal, it looked like it took a couple of other touches, but the ball wasn't cleared off the line and the goal was eventually given by the linesmen on the far side, and the goal was eventually awarded to Tom Richardson. Aveely 5-3 Brentwood.

The visitors did have another couple of chances, Apenteng had a shot fron outside the area which was well saved by David Hughes, who got down well to tip the ball away. David Hughes was forced into a couple of other routine saves and collected crosses well as the Millers managed to see out the rest of the match.

Full Time | Aveley 5-3 Brentwood Town.

Match Sponsors Paul Morgan & David Friend from Thurrock Marching Brass 01:18

Millers XI | David Hughes, Jake Pitty, Sam Mvemba, James Love, Connor Witherspoon, Sam Cross, Marcus Milner (Jason Raad 73), Shad Ngandu (Adam Topley 62), Tom Richardson (Tony Martin 86), Andy Freeman, Alex Akrofi.

Unused Subs | Harry Gibbs, George Doyle.

Brentwood XI | Rob Budd, Ryan Mallett, Connor Martin, Zack Littlejohn (Albert Levett 45), Quba Gordon, Sam Carter, Jed Smith, Kojo Apteneng, Charlee Hughes, Alfie Hilton, Tony Stokes (Harry Doyle).

Unused Subs | John Easterford, Brandon Wood, James Pellin.