Match Preview

This is an updated version of an earlier match preview:

Hopefully, it will be third time lucky as Grays Athletic look to stage their home league fixture against Essex rivals Witham Town, under the lights at Tilbury on Tuesday evening. Two previous attempts to play the game have fallen foul of the winter weather.

The history of football in Witham is amongst the oldest in the county, tracing its origins back to before the formation of the football structures we know today. The early decades were spent in local leagues with mixed success. Perhaps the most notable event was in 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, when the whole team marched together to sign up for the war effort !

That original club meandered along for many years, eventually folding in 1938. Post war, the club that we know today as Witham Town was formed, albeit that the pitch was a “cow pasture” (we’ve all seen a few games on one of those) with the changing facilities located in a nearby barn. By 1971, the club had progressed to become founder members of the Essex Senior League and were its inaugural champions. The mid 1980s saw more success, with another league title and promotion into the Isthmian League for the first time, remaining in the lower divisions for around twenty years. Relegation back to the Essex Senior League was short lived, with then the high point, a 2013-14 promotion into the Premier Division for the one and only time.

Our two clubs have met just over twenty times across the years. A run of various cup fixtures in the 1990s all went Grays way, since when things have been more or less even-stevens. Last season, an August Bank Holiday game saw Witham grab a last gasp winner from Ramiah Mills but Grays took revenge in style on Boxing Day with a 7-1 win, braces of goals from each of Sam Bantick, Aron Gordon and Roman Campbell brought Blues fans festive cheer by the Christmas sackload.

After a less than auspicious start to the league season, WItham’s fortunes have turned round somewhat and they now sit mid-table. However, since mid-December, their results have been something of a mixed bag, although their last outing saw an impressive win over Heybridge Swifts.

Blues will be looking to get back to winning ways after drawing a blank at Lowestoft on Saturday, although the win earlier in the week at Ipswich Wanderers showed much more promise..

Come on You Blues !