This Tuesday evening, sees Grays take on the form side in Isthmian North, in the shape of Brightlingsea Regent, in a game postponed from 11th January.

It's a strange quirk of the fixture list, plus of course the weather, that the teams are meeting for the first time this season, with the return game scheduled for Saturday 5th April.

Last season was the first that the two teams have played one another in the league. When Brightlingsea won the Isthmian North Championship in season 2016/17, Grays were relegated from the Premier Division, so we passed one another like ships in the night!

Last season saw a win apiece in the league. Brightlingsea were victorious at their North Road ground 2-1, with Grays goal coming from a Sam Bantick penalty. The return game saw a 1-0 win for Grays, with Billy Crook the scorer. In addition the teams met in the Velocity Cup, at Brightlingsea, when the then Grays manager, Mark Stimson chose to field a reserve team and paid the price, with Regent running out easy 5-0 winners.

Brightlingsea are having a fine league campaign this time round and are sitting in 5th and, therefore, the final play off place, with 54 points from 29 games. While they are 8 points points behind 4th place Waltham Abbey, they do have two games in hand over The Abbots. The pressure is on though, with improving Walthamstow just 3 points behind having also played 29 games. One way or the other, it's going to be an exciting end to the season for the Regent.

In the cups this season, Brightlingsea were bundled out of the FA Cup in a 1st Qualifying Round replay by Haringey Borough. They were knocked out of the FA Trophy in the 2nd Qualifying Round by Brentwood and in the 4th Round of the League Cup by Hashtag, on penalties. Finally, having enjoyed a good win over Aveley, they lost at the Quarter Final stage of the Essex Senior Cup, to Canvey Island, again on penalties.

At the start of the season, Brightlingsea were managed by Brett Munyard, who was in his 5th season at the helm. However, he departed in early November, to take over at Maldon and Tiptree and was replaced by ex player and previous assistant manager, Ryan Salter, assisted by former Needham Market and Leiston defender, Pip Boyland.

What has happened since has been nothing short of remarkable. Of 15 league games played under Ryan Salter, 10 have been won and 3 drawn and bear in mind that run included away wins at Bury Town and Brentwood, plus a 3-3 draw at Felixstowe and Walton! The Manager of Month award for December was well deserved with a perfect 100% record in the month.

Brightlingsea have won their last 5 away league games and on Saturday, at home, came back from 2-0 down to Concord Rangers, to draw 2-2 thanks to an injury time equaliser from Teddy Collis.

Top goalscorer this season is Louie Kudiabor with 14, followed by Teddy Collis with 12. Among the other players to look out for are young Centre Half, Walker Shabazz Edwards, former Sudbury favourite, Marley Andrews and goalscoring midfielder Fletcher Alexander Hubbard. Defender Andy George played 4 games in our colours, last season.

For Grays, a more resolute display against Gorleston on Saturday, earned a well merited point. The basics were done well and this resulted in our first clean sheet since Haringey at home on 30th November.
It was good to see Kye Jude and Harry Hope making accomplished debuts in Blue. Also pleasing was a return to the starting line up for Aron Gordon; how we've missed him! However, the positivity was tempered by a nasty looking injury to Quba Gordon which required a stretcher.

This is another difficult fixture with several first team players likely to be unavailable, but when the going gets tough, the tough get going, so lets keep it loud for the lads. COYB!!!