Last gasp Carlos strikes put Grays on brink of title

In what can easily be described as the worst half of football witnessed all season in wet and blustery conditions, Grays failed to play their usual free-flowing passing football, matching Harlow’s long ball tactic for the first forty five minutes.

Aside from a couple of corners for each side in the first half, the only effort of note on either goal came from Grays in the 22nd minute as Jack West found space on the left corner of the box, but with Jeff Hammond and Kris Newby well placed in the area, fired over the bar from a difficult angle.

The second half started much livelier with Harlow creating the first opportunity within two minutes of the restart.

A long ball down the left wing found Karnel Harvey in space and he drove into the Grays area, firing low towards the near post, forcing George Kamurasi into a smart save.

Grays replied with a chance of their own immediately as Kenny Beaney played a probing pass through the heart of the Harlow defence into the path of Kris Newby, but from twelve yards out he fired narrowly over the bar.

In the 57th minute a free kick from the right by Lee Flynn was pushed out to the edge of the area by James Hassell where Danny Bunce collected the ball but his driving strike went over the bar.

Grays were given a warning in the 68th minute as Piers Wixon was given space on the edge of the area to line up a shot, but George Kamurasi was positioned well to make the save.

The warning was ignored however and a minute later, Piers Wixon was given space outside the area again and this time his shot had pace and dip, looping over George Kamurasi’s outstretched hand and into the roof of the net.

Manager Hakan Hayrettin responded immediately by replacing Danny Bunce and Jack West with Joao Carlos and Jared Small respectively.

The away side should have equalised in the 75th minute as a corner from the right was played into the six yard box where Junior Baker climbed highest but his header lacked direction and went narrowly wide of the far post.

Grays were level just two minutes later however as Jared Small picked up a loose ball twenty yards from the Harlow goal and fired low at the target. The ball took a deflection off a defender, wrong footing James Hassell, and nestling in the corner of the net.

With time running out and a consecutive wins record of 15 looking about to end, Grays continued to push forward.

In the 87th minute a corner from the left was fired to the back post where Kenny Beaney found space to slide in and direct the ball towards goal. James Hassell saved well with his feet before the ball fell to Jeff Hammond who headed towards goal. This time the ball was cleared off the line by a defender and cleared.

Some may question the performance of a team who are top of the league struggling against a team 20th in the league, but what can never be questioned is the passion and never say die attitude of this Grays team.

After surviving two injury time corners from Harlow, the ball broke to Junior Baker on the edge of his own area. His meandering run saw him pass several Harlow players on the way to arriving at the edge of the Harlow penalty area. As he was closed down, the ball was played out to the corner of the area and after keeping pace with Junior Baker for the length of the pitch, Joao Carlos fired first time along the ground into the far corner of the net to send the away fans into raptures and seal a 16th consecutive victory.

Grays Athletic: George Kamurasi, David East, Junior Baker, Ryan Kirby, Lee Flynn, Kris Newby (Daniel Subuola 88), Kenny Beaney, Leon Lalite, Danny Bunce (Joao Carlos 71), Jack West (Jared Small 71), Jeff Hammond

Unused Subs: Luke Marshall, Joe Sweeney