(report from Bryan Jones)

An evening outing to the Essex seaside saw Rovers squander their chances of a big win against the second bottom club in our league and, disappointingly, end up with just the one point and one goal.

Despite Rovers' overall dominance and possession for most of the game they were unable to deliver the goods where it mattered.

It wasn't until the 21st minute that the first real chance came to the visitors when a well worked free kick between Luke Stockings and Aaron Bowmer saw the latter rifle his kick into the net via a slight deflection for the well deserved lead.

Myles Holder, at the back, was strong and forthright with his tackling and one of his penetrating runs down the left saw him shoot across the 'keeper only to see his effort hit the foot of the post and bounce luckily back into the 'keeper's hands.

Terry Bee played some lovely football with his silky skills and good vision and, when he picked out Jack Jones unmarked in the area, he should have done better with his header, which went wide; he was again off target a few minutes later with a shot across the stranded 'keeper where a little more composure would surely have increased the advantage.

With all this dominance Rovers still looked like coming away with the points but, alas, it was not to be when 'keeper Doug Beck, who had very little to do on the night, was caught ball watching on the edge of his area and a seemingly harmless piece of play out on the left saw the Clacton winger look up and, with great composure, lobbed him from 25 yards and the ball floated gently into the net for the equaliser. Their celebrations would have led you believe that they had actually won the match, such was their delight at getting something from the game in which they had hardly featured.

If Scouse's lads are to win this league, which is still a big possibility, they will need to punish sides with more direct play and put sides to sword once they get in front as they have lost or drawn four of their five games after taking the lead.