On Tuesday 3rd March, Grays travel to the Simarco Stadium to take on Witham Town in a league fixture that has been postponed twice, on 3rd January and 3rd February. Hopefully it will be third time lucky and the game will be on. Kick off is 7.45pm.

Our meeting with Witham earlier in the season ended 0-0, with lots of effort, but little inspiration. A typical early season game between sides trying to find their form.

The head to head record against Witham stands at P25 W10 D6 L9 (excluding pre season friendlies). In just league games, we have P18 W7 D6 L5. Over the years we have not had the best record at the Simarco (Spa Road) ground, with our last league win there being way back on 11th August 2018. That day we prevailed 2-0 with early goals from Shomari Barnwell and our new Assistant Manager, Mitch Hahn. Aron Gordon also played for the Blues in that game, with Witham's Assistant Coach, Liam Whipps appearing for the home side.

Witham are managed by Kevin Hunter who had previously assisted Gary Kimble, before his move to Canvey at the end of October. Former Brantham Athletic Manager, Jack Sibley was brought in as Assistant Manager.

Witham are having a decent season and are in 12th place in the league with 43 points from 31 games played. The middle of the table is very congested with 9th to 14th place covered by just three points. Depending on our result and other games taking place on Tuesday, Witham could climb as high as 9th place.

Other games to note on Tuesday evening are Lowestoft at home (their 5th game at home out of the last 6!) to Walthamstow and, if it goes ahead, Takeley have a home game scheduled against Mildenhall Town. Takeley have had issues with their pitch over the winter and have had to play home games at other clubs grounds; Newmarket Town and Aveley have hosted them, as they both have a 3G surface that guarantees the game can go ahead. I'm not sure what arrangements have been made for Tuesday, but if there is another postponement, Takeley will find their home games are backing up.

Witham's top scorers this season are led by our good friend (as long as he does not score Tuesday!), Sam Bantick, who has now scored 14 times (all in the league) in 21 appearances since joining Town from The Blues. Ben Allen has made the most appearances for Town this season and has scored 10 times (5 in the ILN), Ernest Okoh has 7 (6) and Ziad Barkaar has added 6 (6) since rejoining from Hashtag.

Recent Form

In their last 6 games, Witham have W2 L4 with 10 goals scored and 12 conceded. In their last 6 home games they have W2 D2 L2 scoring 11 and conceding 10. Within that record, they have not had a win in their last 4 home games and indeed, lost the last 2, to Takeley and then to Wroxham, in a game where they led twice.

For Grays, the last 6 games show W2 D1 L3 with 5 goals scored and 6 conceded. In our last 6 away we have W1 D1 L4 with 5 goals for and 12 against. It is worth noting that 3 of those losses away from home were to the top 3 in the league; Maldon & Tiptree, Felixstowe & Walton and Waltham Abbey, so whilst our away form has not been good, it was always going to be a tough run of games.

Last Time

Witham got a very good win on Saturday, away at Mildenhall Town. Having conceded at the end of the first half, Witham found themselves 2 down, early in the second period. It says a lot about a side that they can go down 2-0 away from home to a club fighting for everything and find a way to turn it round. I noticed Kevin Hunter introduced 5 substitutes in quick succession, from the bench and it worked, with Jordan Elongo making at 2-1, before in the last 10 minutes, defender Ollie Bell scored his first of the season. The comeback was completed when experienced Ernest Okoh scored 3 minutes later.

Fans at the EMR were rubbing their eyes on Saturday; were these the same players (with a couple of changes) that rolled over so tamely against Heybridge a fortnight earlier? It was an inspired team performance from Grays, beating 4th placed Bowers and Pitsea, 2-0. Both goals were scored by debutant, Gabriel Chapps who signed from Ware last week. As much as we needed the result, it was the manner of the performance that was so pleasing, every single player was on it from the start, suffocating the form team in the division, for long periods of the game. Make no mistake the win was fully deserved and against a side who I am sure will reach the play offs.

Getting There

The Simarco Stadium is on Spa Road in Witham with the postcode CM8 1UN.

By car, head north on the A12 to J21 and take the B1389 into Witham. At the traffic lights go left into Spinks Lane, past the Leisure Centre and take a right at the T-junction. Follow the road under the railway bridge and the entrance to the ground and car park is on the left.

If you are coming from London by public transport, there are regular services from Liverpool Street that stop at Witham. It should take 45 minutes. The walk back to the ground is about 20 minutes.

Summary

This will be a challenging game for Blues, against a tough, well organised opponent. If Saturday has taught us one thing, it should be that with the right intent, good organisation and a little luck, you always have a chance of winning in this league. Hopefully the feel good factor can carry us to another good result and help us pull further away from the bottom 4.

Please make the effort to join us for the game on Tuesday and don't forget we have a trip to Newmarket next Saturday, playing another team in good form, on their 3G surface.

Come on You Blues!!