Happy New Year everyone! Our first game of 2026 takes place on Saturday 3rd January and sees us make the trip to the Simarco Stadium to face familiar opponents in the form of Witham Town.

Since Blues last outing just after Christmas, manager Darren Manning has been busy in the transfer market bringing both new and familiar faces into the squad, as Grays look to get back to winning ways after a disappointing couple of weeks at the end of 2025.

The game at the Simarco last season was one of those that only got going after half time. Freddie King opened the scoring for Town before two quick goals from Louie Remi and Luke Hirst put Grays in front. Oscar Shelvey was in the Witham team that day and pounced for the equaliser, before both sides went close to finding a winner. The game ended in a 2-2 draw which was fair reward for both sides efforts.

This season, we met on the 25th August, at the EMR, in a hard fought but uninspiring league game which will not live long in the memory and finished goalless.

That result gives us an updated Head to Head record against Witham of P25 W10 D6 L9. Most of the encounters have been in the League where we have 7 wins to Witham's 5 with 6 draws.

Witham are having another good season, building on their 7th place finish last season. After 24 league games played they are in 9th place with 37 points and just three points from the final play off place.

They have had success in Cup competitions, winning through 4 rounds in the F.A.Cup, before losing unluckily at Step 3 Needham Market in the 3rd Qualifying Round. In the F.A.Trophy, they negotiated two penalty shoot outs against Newmarket Town and Cambridge City before losing at Harrow Borough, again in the 3rd Qualifying Round.

In the League Cup, a good win at Brightlingsea Regent was followed by a narrow, late loss away at Aveley. Finally, in the Essex Senior Cup, they beat Hullbridge Sports before losing a game of two halves against Hashtag United. Having gone 4-0 down, Witham got 3 goals back but couldn't quite find the equaliser.

There has been a change of manager this season as Gary Kimble left at the end of October, to take over from Peter Taylor at Canvey Island. Town appointed from within, making Gary's assistant, Kevin Hunter, their new boss. Former Brantham Athletic manager, Jack Sibley, was brought in as assistant manager.

Since the change, Witham have played 12 league games winning 5, drawing 4 and losing 3. Among the wins was a success over league leaders, Felixstowe and Walton and a draw with 3rd placed Waltham Abbey.

Town's leading goalscorers this season are former Blues favourite, Sam Bantick who has banged in 10 league goals in just 14 games, showing there's still plenty of life in the old dog yet! Midfielder Ben Allen has also bagged 10 goals (5 in the league) and Ernest Okoh has 6 (5 in the league).

Recently they have re-signed former Blue, Tommy Stagg, who was with Bury Town.

Form Over Last 6 League Games

Witham have Won 2, Drawn 2 and Lost 2, scoring 10 and conceding 10. At home, their last 6 games have yielded 2 wins and 4 draws with 12 goals for and 9 against.

Grays have Won 1 and Lost 5 with 6 scored and 14 conceded. In our last 6 away league games it's very similar, Won 1 and Lost 5 with 4 scored and 14 conceded.

Last Time

On Saturday Witham travelled to this season's surprise contenders, Stanway Rovers and lost to 2 second half goals. That was the first time they had not scored in a game since late October.

For Grays, it was a case of good crowd, lacklustre performance against our biggest rivals, Tilbury. The Dockers had the chances with George Marsh making several good saves to keep us level, before we were undone by a simple corner that fell to Joe Elliott in the 6 yard box. The Dockers goalkeeper did not have a save to make until the 85th minute, which tells its own story.

Getting There

The Simarco Stadium is on Spa Road with a postcode CM8 1UN.

Take the A12 North to junction 21 (signposted B1389 to Witham). Leave the A12 here and follow the road into Witham. At the traffic lights, turn left into Spinks Lane and past the Leisure Centre. At the T-junction, turn right and follow the road under the railway bridge. The turning for the ground is immediately on the left.

There is a car park at the ground and some parking on the access road. If this is full, try the turning opposite the access road to the ground (Highfields Road).

By public transport, there are 4 scheduled services per hour from Liverpool Street to Witham. The Station is a 20 minute walk from the ground. Please check online for any disruption to services.

Summary

Both sides are looking to bounce back from defeats last time and need the points for different reasons; Witham to keep up their challenge for the play offs, Grays to maintain the gap to the teams currently in the drop zone.

It's going to be a tough challenge for sure, but we have to remember how well we played against teams like Waltham Abbey and Maldon & Tiptree who are both battling for the title. And hopefully, the new personnel will add the spark we need to get the season going again.

When you are going through a bad spell, belief can be the difference between getting something or leaving empty handed. As supporters we play our part by being our 12th man, getting fully behind the lads.

We look forward to seeing you at Witham on Saturday.

Away The Ath!