Grays Athletic 4 - 0 Waltham Abbey

From the whistle the Blues started to push to take the game to Abbey with Joao Carlos and David Cowley taking the ball wide to stretch the away defence, but it was the pace of Ayrton Coley that gave the away side the first chance when he beat Bradley Thomas to the ball to run at Andy Hall only for his control let him down. It was the alert that Athletic needed as they controlled much of the first half.

A series of runs by Carlos and Cowley couldn’t break the Waltham defence as they looked organised and a midfield battle ensued. A run and shot by Carlos almost broke the deadlock, but a point blank save and a header off the line cleared the danger. It was Kenny Beaney who found a way through when a through ball found Jared Small clear and he found space to slot the ball home from a narrow angle midway into the half.

Grays were now controlling the half as they pushed to add to their lead, a Joe Sweeney cross was hit just wide by Harry Agombar and Cowley worked his way through to try his luck but hit the ball wide. It was a long clearance from Hall that saw the goal of the match. The ball was controlled perfectly by Cowley who floated his cross into the box for a fast running Small to hit the ball into the net to double the lead with ten minutes of the half to go.

The Blues were well on top as the half moved on and Baker was unlucky not to add his name to the scoresheet when clear as his shot went over from a Pope cross. A sweeping move between Kenny Beaney and Sweeney saw the ball fall to Carlos but he failed to connect and the ball went safe. The half ended with Grays on top and very satisfied with their performance.

The home side looked carry their good form into the second half and almost scored when Cowley broke clear but stopper Glanville pulled off a great save. A Baker header and a Carlos mis-kick saw Grays keep the pressure on the Abbey defence but they could not convert their chances. Waltham gained belief during this and started to control the midfield and created chances themselves. Steve Cawley and Louis Bristow saw chances go wide and Hall pulled off a good save under pressure from Coley.

Beaney and Agombar worked hard to gain control and started to turn the half around. Beaney placed a pass to the feet of Sweeney and his low cross was hit just wide by Carlos as the Blues showed their skill. It was a Beaney cross that saw Carlos beat his defender and in return hit a low cross for Sweeney to stroke the ball into the net to put the game out of reach with quarter hour to go.

Louis Dennis came on for Sweeney as the home side played some lovely one touch football and the pace of Dennis caused panic in the away defence. Agombar was showing his consistent form as he pushed the ball around trying to create chances and his pass forward allowed a quick one-two between Dennis and Carlos who found Cowley clear and his shot pulled off a smart save by Glanville. A pass from Agombar into the path of Dennis saw the chance go wide.

The result was completed when Craig Pope put a long pass to Agombar and his high pass saw Small run onto the ball and delicately lob Glanville to complete his hat-trick and Grays’ fourth in the dying minutes. A late sub brought Grant Cooper on for Thomas as the minutes passed and the ref blew to end the game after a good display.

Grays Athletic: - Andy Hall, Lee Flynn, Junior Baker, Bradley Thomas (Grant Cooper 88), Craig Pope, Joao Carlos, Harry Agombar, Kenny Beaney, David Cowley, Jared Small, Joe Sweeney (Louis Dennis 80)

Subs not used: - Danny Bunce, Jason Fontaine, Jean-Michel Sigere.