Urchins ease to 5-0 win at Thurrock

Hornchurch handed Conference South strugglers Thurrock a 5-0 thrashing to book their place in the next round of the FA Trophy.

And they will find out later today who they will meet in the next round.

Only seven minutes had been played at Ship Lane when Jonathan Hunt’s free-kick from wide on the right flew over the heads of Simon Glover and Rickie Hayles and found the far corner.

Martin Tuohy’s lob clipped the top of the crossbar, but he doubled Hornchurch’s lead with a good finish after 36 minutes, after Glover, Hayles and Lewis Smith had swapped passes on the right to create the opening.

The second half was only three minutes old when Urchins moved 3-0 up to kill the tie off as a contest.

Another well-flighted free-kick by Hunt caused problems for the home defence and Glover glanced home a header to claim his first goal for Jimmy McFarlane’s men.

Lee Boylan rattled the Hornchurch crossbar soon after and was twice denied by a diving Joe Woolley before the visitors claimed their fourth goal on the hour.

It started with another Hunt free-kick. He played the ball short to Lewis Smith, who twisted in the box before firing into the far top corner of the net.

Fleet were reduced to 10 men when captain Dean Cracknell was shown a straight red card for a late tackle on Andy Tomlinson.

And the day got worse for Robbie Garvey’s side as Drewe Broughton was booked twice in the space of a minute for challenges on Hayles and Les Thompson and was also dismissed.

Hornchurch set the seal on a memorable victory in injury time when Woolley collected a Thurrock corner and threw the ball to Tuohy, who released substitute Tommy Black.

His crossfield pass picked out Michael Spencer, who cut inside on to his right foot to steer a shot in off the underside of the crossbar.

Urchins are back in Ryman Premier Division action against Hendon at Bridge Avenue tomorrow night.

But Romford had to settle for a point from their Ryman One North derby with Brentwood, which ended goalless at Mill Field.