News - May 2008

Grays Athletic U8 Lions (sponsored by Frankie and Benny‘s Lakeside)

The under 8 lions played their first tournament of the summer in the pouring rain and only taking seven players. They won their group winning four, drawing one and only conceding one goal, they got through to the semi final which they won two nil. We went into the final which sadly we lost one nil, but the boys played very well and deserved their silver medals.

Runners-up is a great start to the summer.

Next tournament, Accademy one.. Well done boys, keep up the hard work in this one..

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Grays Athletic U10's continued their fine form this season with this magnificent win at the Hastings SCI 2-day Football Festival.

The boys finished 5 points clear at the top of their group after 2 days of intensive games against teams from areas of London , Kent , Beds , Herts and a local Hastings team.

All the games were played in a magnificent spirit and many friends were made on and off the pitch during our time there. In fact we have made an offer to a team from Dartford to play a friendly against them but we must decline their offer of a revenge match for the trophy !

The awards and winners trophies were presented by ex England international Neil "Razor" Ruddock and the picture shows the jubilant team and Manager Gary Klessa-Smith and his Assistant Gary Stopher in conversation with him. This magnificent trophy was carried from bar to bar afterwards as the celebrations begun.

Many thanks to Gary and Lynn for organising the trip and to all the boys for their superb display . Also a big thank-you to all the parents whose time , effort and financial input made this a weekend to remember.

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Results

Under 15 Friendly

Gidea Park Rangers ‘B’ 2 Grays Athletic 6
Goalscorers: Gavin(2), Reece(2), Billy, Dan

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Grays Athletic 2 Thurrock ‘A’ 1

On a bright but chilly Sunday afternoon, Grays Athletic Under 11‘s met once again with Thurrock ‘A’ in the League Play Off Final at Barleylands. We finished the league with exactly the same amount of points, games won and drawn (both teams had not lost 1 league game all season), but as the league did not take into consideration goal difference, a play off had to take place.

We had played Thurrock 4 times before, all very close games. 3 ended in draws and the last game was the Under 11‘s Cup Final which Grays narrowly missed out on penalties. We knew this was going to be another tough game.

Grays found themselves 2 - 0 up in the first 15 minutes. The 1st goal was scored by Jake S and the other by Ryan B. Unfortunately, due to a defensive error by Grays, we scored an own goal just before half time, leaving the score 2-1.

In the 2nd half, play was very even with both teams looking to score more goals. Great defending by Grays kept Thurrock at bay and the final whistle went keeping the score at 2-1 to Grays Athletic. The boys were ecstatic at their win and happy to win some silverware after the penalty loss at their last final match.

Both teams applauded each other at the medal ceremony and Thurrock were very gracious at their defeat.

We now look forward to another successful season as we progress on to the ECHO League.

Grays Athletic Under 11‘s: Alex, Robert (C), Samuel, John B, Reece, Niall, Ryan B, Jake S, Jacob, Aron, John A, Paul, Joe & Ryan S. The team is managed by Gary Hanks.

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Under16

Grays Athletic U16B 0 Barns Sport 1

Grays Athletic U16B played a very good game and deserved a better result than the score line. If only they had taken their chances.

Man of the Match: Agboola & Ward

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Saturday 10th May 2008

Grays Athletic Youth U12 finish Runners up

Grays U12‘s were competing in the U13 category at today‘s tournament.

Despite this obvious disadvantage, and the heat, the boys put on a great display of football, proving that bigger doesn‘t automatically mean better!

Grays U12‘s won their group stage, not losing a game in the process, and were hoping to meet Grays Athletic Youth U13‘s in the semi final or final. However this was not to be as the U13‘s failed to qualify from their group.

The boys put on a great performance in the Semi final, even though the temperature by now was at least 25c. Despite going a goal down, Grays rallied, and played some fluent passing football, winning the game 3 - 1.

After a long and sometimes difficult season It was great to see the boys enjoying their football again and playing with smiles on their faces.

The final was against Teale, a team from Reading. This time despite a brave and solid Gray‘s performance, the strength and pace of the older boys showed through.

Alex pulled off some superb saves, but despite his brave efforts, he was powerless to stop their forward, who was as tall as some of our parents, from scoring.

Grays finally lost the match 3 - 0, but were not disgraced and full credit to Teale who applauded our performance at the end.

A great performance boys, we are proud of you all.

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