DUNMOW paid the harshest of penalties for not killing off their latest match against Rayleigh on Saturday.

Dunmow FC 1 Rayleigh 2

DUNMOW paid the harshest of penalties for not killing off their latest match against Rayleigh on Saturday.

The two sides were in the unusual situation of meeting for a third time in as many weeks after league and cup clashes

Following in last Saturday’s footsteps the home side dominated much of the first half without creating any clear cut chances.

For the second week the hosts took a one-nil lead immediately after the half time break. A fine solo effort from Andy Harvey saw the forward smash an unstoppable strike into the top right corner of the goal from the far left of the 18 yard box.

As usual though, Dunmow scoring saw Rayleigh raise their game and they levelled the game when a long ball straight down the middle saw keeper Boreham rushing out only to be beaten to the ball by the Rayleigh striker who was able to head the ball past him and into the unguarded net.

Dunmow re-doubled their efforts and continued to press for their second goal.

Harvey was replaced by Chris Fogg after 70 minutes and Will Green was replaced by Barry O’Hare.

With five minutes to go Dan Moss was denied what would surely have been the winner when striking the underside of the bar and Rayleigh were again fortunate to survive a barrage of attempts with three Dunmow players lined up across the Rayleigh six-yard box.

Then, disaster. With barely a minute of the game remaining right back Hicks allowed himself to get the wrong side of the Rayleigh left winger who beat four attempts to stop him before drilling the winner past the despairing dive of Boreham.

Dunmow only had enough time to take the resulting kick off before the full time whistle was blown.

Next: Dunmow are in action away on Saturday at the United Churches of Chelmsford. Kick off 2pm.