This coming Saturday, Grays Athletic make the journey to The Sunshine Coast to face Lowestoft Town FC. With the recent rough weather, there is a pitch inspection planned for 9am on Saturday morning - so check socials before heading for the coach or making your own way up the A12.

Both teams have struggled this season. You could say with tongue in cheek that this is a game between two of the form sides in this division.

We met in the reverse fixture on 15th August on a beautiful sunny day in Tilbury. This was the first league game of the new season and Grays were victorious by 2 goals to 1. We took the lead in the first half as Connor Hogan scored after the ball hit a Lowestoft post, before The Trawlerboys had their best spell of the game, with Henry Pollock heading home from a corner. Grays had the lead again before half time as Denim Nnamudi weaved his past several tackles before finishing well.

The second half saw no addition to the scoreline, but Grays missed the chance to put the game to bed as Gabriel Chapps could not convert from the spot. With only one goal in it, Blues tried to manage the game by keeping the ball and this lead to an angry confrontation on the touchline, with Ben Haddoch and Denim being given their marching orders.

Head to Head v Lowestoft

In league games we have met 11 times with a record from our perspective of W2 D2 L7 GF12 GA 23.
At Lowestoft's Crown Meadow ground we have a poor record, only picking up one point from 5 previous league visits. We did however, win there in the FA Cup back in October 1991, our first game against them.

On The Bench

Lowestoft's player manager is Robert Eagle, the former Norwich City, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Grimsby left back who has had 4 spells as a player and manager with The Trawlerboys.

It was announced on 9th October that Robert would be unavailable to play or manage for a period due to an "administrative error beyond the club's control". Robert has not appeared as a player since, so I'm not sure if the issue is resolved or not.

Early Season Form

The elephant in the room (or the whale in the fishing net) is money. Lowestoft have in the past, suffered issues with cashflow, especially after two seasons of significant travelling in National North.

In September they confirmed that they are in debt to the tune of around £100k. An appeal to rebuild Lowestoft Town by raising that sum is underway, but it is clear that they have had to cut their cloth.

Heavy defeats since the middle of September to Little Oakley, Brightlingsea Regent and Concord (all 5-0), Hashtag United (8-0) and Walthamstow (9-0) have seen them drop to second bottom, one place above new boys, Fakenham Town.

They have also had a bad run of luck with injuries especially with goalkeepers, with three different players having to go between the sticks versus Hashtag.

The Cups have not given them any respite either with defeats at the first hurdle against Cambridge City in the F.A.Cup, AFC Sudbury in the F.A.Trophy and an 8-0 demolition by Needham Market at home in the 1st round of the Suffolk Premier Cup.

Their last 6 league games show a return of no points with 1 goal scored and 36 conceded.

Their top scorers are Kyle Baker with 3 (2 in ILN), Ashton Blogg and Ben Haddoch with 2 (2) apiece.

Amongst all this, club captain, Dylan Ruffles has stood firm and recently celebrated his 200th game for The Trawlerboys.

Last Time Out

Lowestoft travelled down to the Thames Estuary last Saturday to face Concord Rangers. The Beachboys took the lead on the half hour through Mekhi McKenzie, before doubling their advantage through former Grays player, Toheeb Elegushi. It was three before half time as Charlie Allum slotted home a penalty.

The second half saw further goals from Max Dorili and a second for McKenzie to make it 5-0. At that point there were a further 35 minutes to go, but Lowestoft saw them out without conceding again.

For Blues, after the disappointment of the late defeat to Canvey and the departure of Mitch Hahn and Ash Miller, there was a tricky home game at home to Walthamstow to navigate. The team put on a much improved display and came away with a well deserved 3-1 win, with Sam Wade and Gabriel Chapps (2) the scorers.

Getting There

Lowestoft's Crown Meadow ground is at postcode NR32 2PA.

There is a coach travelling up, leaving The Oak at 11.00. Please contact David Seaman if you want to reserve seats. Cash payments only on boarding the coach, please

If you are making your own way up, then its about 115 miles from Grays and should be about 2.5 hours drive. Once you have reached the A12, just stay with it all the way to Lowestoft, crossing the bascule bridge over the dock entrance.

There is no parking at the ground, so the best bet is to head for the Clapham Road South car park (postcode NR32 1RR). 4 hours parking is £3.70. The ground is about 400m away up Raglan Road and turn left into Love Road

Summary

Both these clubs would hope to be a lot nearer the top of the table, but we are where we are for a reason. Lowestoft's debts hang over them and they need these cleared to hit the reset button.

They remain a well supported club and are 3rd in the table for average home attendance, (Grays are in 16th). Their Women's team is successful and the U19's are competitive, so it's not all doom and gloom.

The Blues travel in a positive mood following the win over Walthamstow on Wednesday. If we can back this up with three points on Saturday, we could climb away from the bottom 4. Our away record this season is very poor and we have suffered at Crown Meadow before, so we have to show the same resolve as on Wednesday if we want to win.

Please come and join us, as your support will make a difference to the team.

Away The Ath!