Matches

GRAYS DROP POINTS IN LOCAL DERBY
by David Jarvis

Grays relinquished vital points and league position tonight in an unattractive local derby. Thurrock’s determination to spoil Blues’ footballing game led to two mistakes which, in the end, cost Blues the three points.

As early as the 7th minute, Grays’ ability to navigate Thurrock’s long ball game was in doubt after a defensive mix up between Steve Robinson and Mel Capleton led to the first goal for the home side. Robinson’s short back pass was cleared by Capleton under pressure, only for the clearance to rebound back off Robinson and presented top scorer Cliff Akurang with an open goal.

Having got ahead, Thurrock looked content to sit on their lead and look for breaks from long balls forward and free kicks. Grays meanwhile attempted to build through the midfield but with little success. There was one ray of light when Freddie Eastwood brought the ball in from the left, turning two defenders, but his shot went high and wide.

It wasn’t until the second half that Grays really began to challenge the Thurrock goal – a well-struck Wes Daly free kick was deflected and hit the top of the crossbar.

But as Blues looked like kick-starting their passing game, Thurrock struck with a sucker punch. A Dave Collis free kick swung in to find Akurang’s head in the six-yard box to put the home side two up on 55 minutes.

Worse still it could have been more. With Grays committing more men forward, Akurang missed a header from a Collis corner, and at the death was put through after Eddie Youds gave the ball away in the Grays back four. Capleton was able to get his fingertips to the ball to turn Akurang’s effort wide.

Mark Stimson will no doubt be sorely disappointed with the result, particularly the way in which the two goals were given away. Grays drop to 4th in the league with nine games remaining.

Grays Athletic
Capleton, Bruce, Youds, Robinson, Lunan, Thurgood, Daly, Carthy, Eastwood, Hayzelden, Griffiths Subs: Bradshaw, Remy, Marwa, Olayinka, Barrett

Thurrock
Gothard, Purdey (booked 49), Davidson, Collis, McFarlane (booked 19), Martin, Howard, Heffer (booked 58), Bowes, Kandol, Akurang Subs: Linger, Allen, Broom, Fletcher, Lawrence

Attendance: 722

Your comments

I was there what a poor performance from Blues the only saving grace is that we dont have to watch Thurrock play their boring defensive long ball punt game every week, although having said that we should be good enough to deal with them considering all the quality players we have and we must learn to defend better, second spot is now looking a tall order

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