Following the postponement of the Velocity Cup game on Wednesday evening, Grays are back at home on Saturday, hosting AFC Sudbury in Isthmian North action. Kick off is at 3pm. The weather has been dry over the past couple of days and no pitch inspection is planned.

Our Last Meeting

This will be our first meeting against The Suds since April 2023, when we met in the semi final of the Play Off's at their (then) MEL Group Stadium. A good game saw Blues take the lead through former Suds striker, Sam Bantick, before Reggie Lambe blasted the equaliser. Within 2 minutes Lewis Clark had restored our lead which we kept into the interval. The second half turned on a decision in the 55th minute as Josh Stokes goalbound shot was stopped at close range, unintentionally, by Macca Joynes hand. The referee had a big decision to make and awarded a penalty and a straight red to Macca. Nnamdi Nwachuku scored from the spot, his 47th and final goal of a stellar season, before Reece Harris scored his only goal of the season with a high quality free kick and we lost 2-3.

The Suds went on to promotion, winning a very tight final at home to a Heybridge Swifts side containing current Blues, Tyler Brampton, Matt Price and Rob Harvey. The game was goalless after 90 minutes with Jake Turner scoring the only goal in Extra Time, elevating Sudbury to the Southern League Premier Central.

Head to Head

We have met AFC Sudbury on 19 occasions, with 17 league meetings (one game was lost in a Covid season), one league cup game and the play off semi final. The record from our viewpoint is; P19 W7 D4 L8 Goals For 36 Goals Against 33.

In The Dugout

Following relegation from Step 3 last season, Sudbury brought in Phil Weavers as manager in the close season. Phil was Mildenhall Town's manager, seeing them promoted back to Isthmian North and just losing out to The Blues in last season's battle to avoid the drop. Phil has brought in his assistant from Mildenhall, former AFC Sudbury player, Daryl Coakley.

Form This Season

The Suds had three seasons in the Southern League Premier Central finishing in 18th then 17th place before relegation last campaign. It is an unforgiving league and they were not helped by losing some of their star players from their promotion season.

One such player was Josh Stokes, who has gone on to a professional career and currently plays for Reading in League 1 on a season long loan from Bristol City. He is an example of what a talented young player playing at this level can achieve with good coaching and a great attitude. Josh has even played at Wembley twice since moving on from Sudbury, both for Stockport County.

This season always looked like it might be a transitional one for The Suds, as they adjusted to life back at Step 4. They have been a bit streaky in league games, losing their first 4 before a 6 game unbeaten run, (including an eye catching 3-0 win at Little Oakley), and then another 4 losses, before a draw at home to Concord Rangers. In Cup games, they lost to Cambridge City in the FA Cup Preliminary Qualifying Round, 1-2. After beating Lowestoft Town, they lost at Ware 0-2 in the FA Trophy. They were beaten 0-4 at home by Newmarket Town in the Velocity Cup and have been drawn at home to Leiston in the Suffolk Premier Cup, on 24th November.

First Team Squad

New boss Phil Weavers brought in a number of new players; Tom Maycock after two consecutive promotions with Stanway Rovers, former Brantham striker Reuben Chinnery and from his old club, Mildenhall, Finlay Iron, Callum Anderson and George Chenery. Returning to the club were Josh Pollard and Dan Cousens. More recently they have added Jorginho Gomes and Reece Clairmont.

Reuben Chinnery has had a brilliant start to the season and is the league's leading scorer with 12 goals (plus one in the Trophy).

Last Time Out

The Suds had a home game on their 3G pitch against Concord Rangers. They started well, going ahead on 14 minutes through a Reuben Chinnery penalty. Just 4 minutes later, The Beachboys Kai Torres was shown a straight red card for an elbow and the visitors had to play over 70 minutes a man short. Concord's manager, Ricky Modeste will have been delighted at the resilience of his side and they equalised after half time through substitute Makhaya James. Sudbury could not find a way through and it finished 1-1.

The Blues travelled up to Lowestoft for a must win game and on a very decent pitch, came away with the 3 points, winning 6-0 with goals from Matt Price (2), Brandon Adams (2), Sam Wade and an own goal. It was a good performance against a side struggling on and off the field. Both sides supporters deserve credit for sticking with their sides and the banter on the terrace was typical non-league and taken (and given) in the right way.

Summary

Assuming the game goes ahead, it is likely to still be a very heavy pitch which will affect the way both teams can play. Given that Sudbury play on the 3G at home, it will be a challenge for them, but one they will no doubt have encountered before.

Our visitors have not been in their best form recently and will be frustrated at not getting back to winning ways at home to Concord Rangers, given they had the man advantage for so long. However, they have got goals in their side and will travel determined to get back on track and avoid being overtaken in the table by Grays.

Blues fans have seen back to back league wins under interim manager, Lewis Clark. In particular our attitude and intent has been spot on. It has been good to see our forward players hitting the net and we need to try to play to their strengths as much as we can. The communication on the pitch has also improved massively and I think it's safe to say that we won't see too many more short corner routines when Lewis has made his way into the box!

This should be a very competitive game and one you would not want to miss. Come and join us at the EMR on Saturday as we go for 3 more points.

COYB!