After a rare weekend off, Grays Athletic return to action on Monday 27th October in the 2nd Round of the Isthmian League Cup, (The Alan Turvey Trophy, sponsored by Velocity), away at Redbridge. Kick off is 7.45pm.

Grays reached the 2nd Round of the competition by winning 3-1 at Concord Rangers. This will be Redbridge's debut in this season's competition.

The tie will be decided on the night, if the teams are level at full time, there will be a penalty shoot out.

The draw for the 3rd Round, (the last 32), has already been made with the winners of our tie, hosting either Stanway Rovers or Takeley.

Redbridge's manager is Chris Taylor who is assisted by Scott Canham and Eddie Proctor. They had the tough task of taking over in the middle of last season from popular, former manager, George Christou, (now at Tilbury). They took the side forward, playing some good football and finishing last season in 12th place, but placed 4th in terms of goals scored.

In our pre season predictions, they were one of the sides we felt could go under the radar and push for the playoffs.

We have of course already met one another this season at Redbridge's Techsoc.com stadium. Our league game on 11th August was undoubtedly memorable. I'm not sure how best to describe the game other than it was more like a cup tie than many actual cup ties.

Redbridge took a 1-0 lead into half time, which they doubled early in the second half. Grays fought back and levelled through two penalties. After the second penalty there was an unfortunate coming together. Redbridge's 10 men then went 4-2 up. A third goal for Grays was only a consolation and it finished 4-3.

That result means our head to head record with Redbridge now stands at P15 W9 D2 L4.

Looking at the Motormen's season so far it's been a mixed bag. In the F.A.Cup, they edged out Great Wakering Rovers in an Preliminary Qualifying Round replay, before losing at home in the next round to Royston Town. They hosted Waltham Abbey in the F.A.Trophy, but couldn't progress, going down 4-1 to one of the favourites for promotion from our division. Last week they lost in the Essex Senior Cup, again at home, as National South side, Hornchurch, sent a strong side to the Techsoc.com stadium and won 3-1.

In the league after their victory over The Blues, they lost at home to Stanway Rovers and away against Waltham Abbey. The league schedule then gave them a run of 7 games against teams in the bottom half of the league and they took full advantage, winning 5 and drawing 2, conceding just 2 goals. Within that run was a 4-0 win away at local rivals Walthamstow which must have been particularly satisfying.

On Saturday, they faced the long trip to the East Suffolk coast to play Lowestoft Town and will be delighted to come away with a 3-1 win. Their goals coming from Joseph Johnson, Malachi Napa and former Blue, Prince Sikiru. The win puts them in 7th place with 23 points from 14 games.

Solomon Ogunwomojou scored twice against us in August and has continued his good goalscoring form. He now has 12 for the season (10 in the League). Malachi Napa has scored 6 times. Another player likely to feature is long serving Jack Chawner who had an eventful game against us in August. Firstly he scored from distance and then demonstrated his versatility by donning the gloves for the last 20 minutes.

One recent addition to their ranks is Prince Sikiru, the young midfielder from Watford. Prince played 5 times in our colours last season on a month's loan. His debut must go down as one of the best in Blues colours in recent years. He'd only played age group football before and only met his new team on the coach. To make things more challenging, the game was away to a Felixstowe and Walton side who had gone unbeaten at home for well over a year.

We were so thin on the ground for this game, there wasn't really any choice. Prince's performance in the engine room was remarkably assured. Elliott Sartorius even mentioned afterwards that Prince was talking him through the game to help him adapt to playing in an unfamiliar position.

Last time out, Grays enjoyed a morale boosting win 4-0 over Southend United in the Essex Senior Cup. Goals from Jack (his first for The Blues), Oscar and a brace from Sam Bantick, all in the second half, secured our place in the last 16 and a tie away to Redbridge's conquerors, Hornchurch.

After Monday, we have three league games, away at Bowers on Halloween, then home to Brantham Athletic and Newmarket Town, before we meet the Motormen once more, in the reverse league fixture, on 12th November.

Getting There

The ground is next to Barkingside Station on the Central Line (Chigwell Loop). You can join the tube at Stratford. On exiting Barkingside station, turn right over the bridge and the ground is on the right (just follow the floodlights)

By car, the postcode is IG6 1NB. This is within the ULEZ area, so if you're not sure whether you need to make a payment, check your vehicle on TFL's website. There is some parking but it gets busy. You can park on the road.

Please remember there is disruption at Gallows Corner, so it may be best to avoid the A12 and A127 and instead, take the A13 and the A406 North Circular and then go East on the A12 to the Gants Hill roundabout. Here take the 2nd exit, the A123 Cranbrook Road. At the traffic lights by The Chequers pub, turn right into Tanners Lane. Turn left, signposted for parking Craven Lane, then immediately right into Carlton Road. At the mini roundabout, take the first exit then bear right over the bridge.

We look, forward to seeing you at the Techsoc.com stadium to see if we can progress into the last 32.

Come on you G's!