Home win at last brings Festive cheer

Finally, at the eighth time of asking this season, Grays Ath came up with a home win and three points, against fellow strugglers, Enfield. New manager, Darren Manning, is clearly starting to turn things round. Despite bringing several new faces into the squad over the past couple of weeks, the starting eleven he named was almost the same as that which started against Stowmarket in the last game.

Blues started the game brightly and after just two minutes, an almighty skirmish in the Enfield box saw the ball bouncing round merrily, but no Grays player was on hand to apply a finish, with Michael Finneran having the final attempt comfortably saved by visiting keeper, George Edgeworth. Rob Clark then broke through the defensive line but shot wide. But on 16 minutes, Troy Osei-Bobie’s crossfield pass found Aron Gordon, out wide left. He cut in and his shot took a couple of small deflections and past Edgeworth for a deserved 1-0 lead.

To their credit, given their recent form, Enfield didn’t fold but came back fighting. Jay Nash put a shot over the crossbar and then had an effort brilliantly blocked by the impressive Billy Crook. Danny Sambridge then intervened twice to prevent an equaliser. Firstly, he was alert to Luke Clark ghosting in at the far post, to make a brave close-range save. And then he intervened to prevent old adversary, Luke Vyse, from getting a shot away.

It was Blues wide men Gordon and Jesse Olukolu, backed up by Jordan Peart, who were causing most danger. Peart’s pace in particular caused Enfield concern more than once, with lung-busting runs down the left wing. But the lack of a cutting edge meant Grays were unable to trouble the keeper.

Half time: Grays Athletic 1 v 0 Enfield

Shortly after the break, came the game’s most controversial moment. Finneran had already been yellow carded in the first half and he clumsily brought Vyse down just outside the box. Blues fans expected the worst, but referee Mr Ball chose only to administer a final stern lecture. Enfield clearly felt hard done by, especially when Harry Norman put the resulting free kick wide of the post. The visitors were fired up. Vyse himself put a shot high and then Sambridge was called into action again to deny Jay Nash, before Frankie Franz screwed a shot when he could have done better.

But Grays had weathered the storm. On the hour, Olukolu, down the right wing, cut the ball into Crook on the edge of the box and his cross was placed perfectly on Osei-Bobie’s head and he finished smartly for a 2-0 lead. There was a communal sigh of relief.

The best though was yet to come. With a quarter of an hour left on the clock, Blues moved the ball crisply up the pitch, keeping possession and looking for an opening. Olukolu then produced the perfect cross and Charlie Stimson couldn’t miss, 3-0.

Enfield kept trying and Harry Norman nearly got one back when his shot came back off a post. But by now Blues were on their game. Edgeworth made a point blank save from Olukolu before new boy Rohat Maytar found Aron Gordon outside the box and he let fly an unstoppable thunderbolt from 20 yards to make it 4-0 and send Blues fans into raptures.

And there was still time for three more chances created by the Olukolu-Gordon-Peart combination but more goals would have been rubbing salt into Enfield’s wounds.

This was, to be fair, far from a perfect performance from Grays and the visitors fought competitively for long periods of the game. But Blues have already been on the wrong end of this kind of scoreline this season. They will take the points and move on into the festive period.

Final score: Grays Athletic 4 v 0 Enfield

Grays Ath: Sambridge, Millner, Peart, Clark (Cosgrave, 67), Finneran (Matyar, 76), Humphrey, Gordon, Crook, Stimson (Connolly, 77), Osei-Bobie, Olukolu

Subs not used: Gibson, Dacus