On Saturday, 3rd October, Blues travel up to Newmarket, the home of horse racing, for an Isthmian League encounter. Kick off at the Tristel Stadium is 3.00pm.

Last season saw contrasting games between the two sides. Newmarket won at a canter, 3-0 at the EMR, a game marked by some more than generous defending and goalkeeping by Grays. Josh Lee scored twice and Stan Leech got the third.

The return game was very hard fought, scrappy and niggly; frankly not much of a game of football, but we gained a precious point as it ended 1-1. Aron Gordon scored for Grays and Louis Jenkins equalised for Newmarket. Charlie Stimson was given a straight red card, late on.

Newmarket finished the season in a comfortable 15th place with 54 points, a good improvement on their debut season in Isthmian North when they were 18th with 43 points.

Head to Head versus Newmarket Town

Along with the 4 league games across the two seasons that Newmarket have been in Isthmian North, there was a first meeting back in 1992, in the 3rd Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, where Grays were odds on favourites, but the home side prevailed, 1-0.

The record therefore stands at
P5 W2 D1 L2 Goals For 7 Goals Against 6
At the Tristel Stadium
P3 W1 D1 L1 Goals For 5 Goals Against 3

In The Saddle

Newmarket's manager is Michael Shinn who has been with The Jockeys since 2017 and after a brief gap in February 24, led them to promotion to Isthmian North. Michael is assisted by Wayne Goddard and Ricky Cornish.

Close Season Moves

The Jockeys retained most of their first team squad from last season; James Young, Oscar Dean, Ben Robinson, Kacper Brzozowiec, Efrahim Co Romanos, Jake Eady, Josh Lee, Josh Coulson and Theo Goddard.

Leaving were Louis Jenkins, Fin Whiteley and loan players Zak Sowden Fletcher and Jahkyah Ebanks-Blake (who has since joined Huddersfield Town).

Incoming are Lennon King (who was on loan from Cambridge United last season), Ben Nolan from Mildenhall, Taylan Kilnic from Brimsdown Rovers, Jordan Chipps from Mildenhall, Jack Palmer from Hadleigh United, Jordan Adeoye and Ryan Cole rejoins from Bedford Town. Recently Elliott Reeve joined from Flint Town United in the Welsh Premier League.

Early Season Form

Newmarket were slow out of the stalls but have now really hit their stride. They lost their first two league games, before drawing with Takeley. Since then they have won 4 on the bounce to sit in 7th place with 13 points from their 7 games.

In the F.A.Cup they beat Godmanchester Rovers and St Neots Town before unluckily losing to Canvey Island in a closely fought replay, decided by Mitchell May's quality, late strike.

In the F.A.Trophy, they beat Haringey Borough on penalties, after what sounds like a very spicy game, before an excellent victory over Gorleston, 5-2, at the Tristel. This gave them a home tie against Southern League Premier Central side, Leighton Town. Despite going behind, The Jockeys came through 2-1 and will now face Faversham Town away in the 1st Round Proper.

Newmarket travelled to Sudbury in the Velocity Cup first round and thrashed them 4-0. Their reward is a game versus The Blues, to be played at the EMR on 28th October.

One feature of Newmarket's early season is how they have goal threats from across the pitch; always the sign of a good team. Their 8 league goals so far have been scored by 8 different players. Add in the Cups and 12 different players have found the net for them this season already. Josh Lee has bagged 7 in total, Jack Palmer 4, with Elliott Reeves and Lennon King adding 3 apiece.

Last Time Out

The Jockeys travelled down to Canvey Island and got revenge for their F.A.Cup defeat, thanks to a 2-1 win. Elliott Ronto opened the scoring for The Gulls before Lennon King scored from outside the box to equalise. New signing Elliott Reeves secured the win late in the second half with another fine finish to make it six wins on the spin for The Jockeys.

For Blues, there were debuts against Takeley for centre forward, Matt Price and winger, Freddie Price (in his return to The Blues). With Danny Sambridge and Macca Joynes unavailable and Tyler Brampton suspended, it was a changed line up at the back.

Sadly, the win we were seeking did not materialise. Takeley were well organised, hard working and accepted the gifts offered to them. An early corner saw a misdirected defensive header give Joe Pullen a chance he couldn't miss. As we neared half time, Matt Price opened his account for Grays with a poachers finish after some head tennis. The second half was in the balance, before an error in midfield was punished by George Sykes for an 80th minute winner.

In complete contrast to The Jockeys form, that was Blues third consecutive loss and with only one win in seven league games (one in nine in all games), we remain in 18th place. Takeley's first away win of the season saw them move up to 8th place.

Getting There

The postcode for the Tristel Stadium is CB8 8BT.

By car, take the M11, A11 and A1304. Coming into Newmarket go down the hill to the traffic lights and turn right into The Avenue (B1103). Follow this under the railway bridge, bear left and the turning for Cricket Field Road is on the left.

There is a car park at the ground and parking on the road. The journey from Grays is about 75 miles and barring traffic issues should take about 90 minutes.

By train, head into London for Kings Cross and take the service to Cambridge. Change here for the line that serves Newmarket. If all runs well, it should be 75 minutes from Kings Cross and a 10 minute walk to the ground, down Green Road to The Avenue and then follow the route as above.

Summary

This looks to be a tough assignment for The Blues as Newmarket have real momentum and will be full of confidence from their winning run. They seem to have recruited well with Ben Nolan and Taylan Kilnic causing lots of problems on the wings and in Lennon King they appear to have acquired a real talent. Elliott Reeves has hit the ground running scoring three in his two games and we know what Josh Lee can do from previous games against them.

Grays have managed just one point from five away league games, and we simply can't afford to repeat the mistakes from midweek if we want to come away with something. We are shipping too many bad goals right now, so a clean sheet would be a big step up. The signings of Freddie and Matt Price, gives us plenty to look forward to, but we need to find a way of playing to their strengths, if we are to see the best of them.

There's an old saying that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. That applies to supporters as well as players, so please make every effort to join us in Newmarket on Saturday and give us your support.

Up the Ath!