On Wednesday evening under the lights, Grays Athletic host Walthamstow FC. Kick off at the EMR is 7.45pm. Following the confirmation of Mitch's resignation and Ash's departure, the team will be taken by Lewis Clark with support from Sam Walker, Striz and Sim, while a recruitment process has commenced for a new manager.

This will already be our second league meeting of the season with Walthamstow. The game at Wadham Lodge was played on the 18th August and saw Blues control the first 25 minutes or so, but unable to find a goal, before Walthamstow's direct game started to pay dividends. Lively teenage striker, Joden Trickett, opened the scoring just before half time with a shot from outside the area. In the second half, Stow began to get a grip of the game, only for Denim Nnamudi to curl in a beautiful equaliser. The game was up for grabs and it was the home side that found the winner late on, through Zion Sinclair, following a slide rule pass.

Head to Head

The record in competitive games (against this iteration of the Walthamstow club) now stands from our perspective at;
P8 W1 D4 L3 Goals For 5 Goals Against 12.
Walthamstow have been particularly successful when playing us away from Wadham Lodge with two wins by a score of 4-0 and a 1-1 draw in last season's encounter.

In The Dugout

The man in charge is Max Mitchell. He previously managed the club during the Covid seasons with some success. He has also managed at Hertford Town, St Margaretsbury, Welwyn Garden City and Potters Bar Town. Max came back to Walthamstow when the club parted ways with Gifton Noel Williams in pre-season and has done a good job of rebuilding the squad with little game time together before the start of the campaign.

Recent Changes

Last week, Walthamstow signed Denim Nnamudi from The Blues. Denim made 13 appearances for us scoring 4 memorable goals. It's a shame to lose Denim, but we wish him well and hope he hasn't saved one of his specials for Wednesday evening.

Also rejoining Walthamstow was former player, Nathan Smith. He scored one of the 9 goals against Lowestoft Town, his first for the club since February 2007! That stirred memories of one of our own legends, Delroy Rhoden, who left The Blues as a youngster in 1970, only to rejoin us again in 1987. That season, Delroy played a leading role in helping us to promotion and that not to be forgotten Essex Senior Cup triumph, when he scored the winner in the final against Leytonstone and Ilford.

Moving on from Stow were two former Blues. Jordan Peart, made 21 appearances for us in 2023/24 with one goal. Jordan has joined the new set up at Maldon and Tiptree, who are holding their own in the Isthmian Premier. Also leaving Wadham Lodge was Jared Small who played for us between 2010/11 and 2013/14. In 121 appearances (71 starts), Jared scored 20 times including our goal in the Essex Senior Cup Final in April 2013.

Stow's former manager and Director of Football, Vinny Murphy, has also joined Maldon and Tiptree.

Recent Form

In their last 6 league games, Walthamstow have won 4 and lost 2, scoring 17 and conceding 5. Their impressive total of goals was boosted by that 9-0 win against Lowestoft Town, the biggest victory in the division this season, so far.

Their away record is one win from seven games, but that win was achieved at Hashtag United. It seems that they have gone close on several occasions but have not had luck on their side.

Walthamstow visit us (before the results of Tuesday night's games) in 11th place with 16 points from the 13 games they have played.

Top Scorers

Former Woking U21 striker, Joden Trickett is top scorer with 10 goals to date (8 in ILN). Former Watford U21 player, James Collins has bagged 8 (7) and Elijah Grant has 5 (2).

Last Time Out

Stow travelled to the Suffolk Coast to play Felixstowe and Walton. In what sounds like a breathless first half, The Seasiders had a goal ruled out and hit the woodwork with Stow hitting the frame of the goal three times. The opener for Fellxstowe came from Jose Santa De La Paz and Stow's equaliser from former Stevenage U21 player, Faith Mustafa. In the second half, things calmed down before Felixstowe were awarded a penalty, which was converted by Joe Whight. That turned out to be the difference between the sides and Walthamstow lost 1-2.

For The Blues, it was a familiar sinking feeling against old rivals Canvey Island. The Gulls had several key players missing and three players making their debut. In a hugely significant game for both sides, it is disappointing that The Gulls showed more intensity and appetite than Grays right from the kick off. However, it was The Blues who took the lead against the run of play, as a quick throw in was controlled by Gabriel Chapps and his pass was controlled and then smashed home by Sam Wade.

After the break, Canvey, took the game by the scruff of the neck and Conor Hubble, as he so often does, came up with a key goal, rifling home a fine shot from outside the box. Although Blues had a few half chances, the run of play was with The Gulls who exerted pressure through long throws and set pieces with Blues guilty of giving them plenty of opportunities to do so. Eventually this told, with Ross Wall getting his usual goal against Grays in the 89th minute. That was enough to earn The Gulls a crucial win, remarkably their 27th in 41 competitive games against Grays.

Summary

This is another opportunity to stop what has become a damaging losing run. We have now lost 7 league games on the trot, scoring only 4 goals and conceding an eye watering total of 19. Both those stats need to improve markedly if we want to climb away from our current placing of 20th.

Right now, all we can do as supporters is to turn up and support Lewis, Sam and the team, positively. It's an old cliche, but in football things can change very quickly. A win will not suddenly solve all the problems, but it will give everyone a lift before our visit to fellow strugglers, Lowestoft Town, on Saturday and with it the chance to build some badly needed momentum.

Up The Ath!