Grays Athletic 4 - 0 AFC Sudbury

An easy start for both teams in the early exchanges saw both sides looking tentative as they probed looking for openings. Blues were the first into their stride when Craig Pope moved forward and passed to Joao Carlos and his shot was deflected out and a series of corners came to nothing. Grays started to get on top with David Cowley and Carlos using their pace to pressure the away defence.

Martin and Sloots for Sudbury had to run hard to cover the attacks but neither were able to do anything about the Blues first goal when a pin point pass from Pope found Jean-Michel Sigere in the middle and a clever headed pass to Carlos on the left was hit on the volley across the goal and into the net to give the home side the lead on 15 minutes.

Sudbury composed themselves but could not set up an attack as the game settled into a midfield tussle and the hard working Harry Agombar and Kenny Beaney tried to keep the Blues on top. The pace of Louis Dennis almost put the Blues two up when a pass from Sigere put him through only to see his shot hit the post.

A solid run from Howell on the right found Sullivan clear but his header went wide, and another break saw Sullivan closed down by Junior Baker. Beaney was starting to make his presence felt as his clever foot work eased him through but his pass to Dennis was cleared by the away defence.

The first half ended with the Blues just edging the half with a satisfying team performance .

The Blues came out looking to add to the tally but it was Sudbury who had the first chance when an Emmanuel free kick was charged down. A Pope clearance found Cowley clear on the right and he ran forward to hit a goal bound shot that was deflected past Danny Gay to make it two for the home side with only five minutes of the half gone.

Grays seemed to ease back as the away midfield started to get on top and foraged into the Blues half. Baker and Grant Cooper were cool under pressure and kept the ball away as the crosses came in as Sudbury had their best spell of the match, and those that got through were handled well by Andy Hall. For a 15 minute spell the Blues looked under the cosh but kept their heads.

A sub by Grays, Jared Small on for Sigere, and some verbal encouragement from the bench saw Grays break from defence when a cross-field pass from Cowley found Carlos clear to hit a pass across the goal for Dennis to tap the ball in from close range to make it three, against the play, with a quarter hour to go.

A lot of teams would have folded but Sudbury still came forward trying to salvage something from the game as the match moved towards its conclusion. A double sub saw Joe Sweeney and Eljay Worrell come on for Dennis and Carlos as the home side got on top again.

The probing Danny Bunce linked up well to try to push home the advantage, but it was Pope who made the last goal as he ran forward into the away box to be fouled by Henshaw for the Ref to award a penalty. Agombar stepped up to hit the ball wide of Gay to complete the scoring and a very satisfying night for the hard working Blues team with only minutes left.

The game ended with a confident Grays Athletic side now looking forward to the FA cup tie against Aveley, and a three point cushion at the head of the league.

Grays Athletic: - Andy Hall, Danny Bunce, Craig Pope, Junior Baker, Grant Cooper, Joao Carlos (Eljay Worrell 86), Harry Agombar, Kenny Beaney, David Cowley, Louis Dennis (Joe Sweeney 83), Jean-Michel Sigere (Jared Small 75)

Subs not used: -Ian Gayle, Jason Fontaine.

AFC Sudbury: - Danny Gay, Robbie Martin, Ashley Sloots, Ryan Henshaw, Nathan Clarke, Stephen Adams, Richard Howell, Sam Clarke, Chris Sullivan (David Lorimer 65), Daniel Emmanuel, David Wareham

Subs not used: - Tom Devaux, Daniel Swain, Ashley Stoneman, Jacob Brown