Grays Athletic’s dream of FA Cup glory is over for another season, after a below-par performance enabled Essex opponents, Witham Town, to take full advantage and progress comfortably to the next round at the Blues expense. Year-on-year, Grays teams seem to reserve some of their poorest showings for FA Cup showpiece fixtures and this was no exception.
From the first whistle, the visitors looked sharper, keener and more eager for the win. Witham came with a game plan, stuck to it and executed it to the letter. Grays, on the other hand, looked lethargic, wasteful in possession and too often resorted to long balls out of the back line, that the visitors’ defence dealt with comfortably.
Having said that, the early exchanges were relatively even-handed. Former Blue, Josh Osude had his first, athletic, attempt after a quarter of an hour and Calum Fitzer tried his luck from the edge of the box.
Grays then had a decent spell of possession. Aron Gordon tested Witham keeper, Harry Fairs, from fully thirty yards out and Luke Hirst broke free following a Witham corner and was unceremoniously halted by Deese Kadinga Masia, who went into referee Mr Hathaway’s notebook for the challenge.
But then it all turned sour for Blues on the half hour. Another Witham corner somehow found its way right across to Anton Matthews unmarked on the far post, and he had the simplest of tap-ins to take the lead. And just a few minutes later, the ball was worked to Osude inside the box and his close control and finish made it 2-0 to the visitors.
Kenedi Dariri was unlucky with a long range effort that came back off the upright and Bobby Unwin had another shot from distance saved well by Fairs.
Blues were then given a potential lifeline back into the game just before the half time whistle. Aron Gordon had a shot palmed out by Fairs, who then kept out Hirst’s follow-up effort, and third-time-lucky Elliott Sartorius tried his luck with a fierce shot that struck a Witham hand inside the box. And it was Sartorius himself you stepped up to fire home the spot kick, to reduce the deficit to 2-1.

Half time: Grays Athletic 1 v 2 Witham Town

The picture after the break was a depressing one for the Blues faithful, with Witham becoming increasingly dominant in the game and Osude playing the role of tormentor in chief with some style.
Just a few minutes into the half, Danny Sambridge was called into action to deny Osude and soon after he produced an even finer save from a Madia shot, again set up by Osude. Grays seemed devoid of ideas on how to stem the tide and it was only a matter of time before the visitors extended their lead. Another Witham corner found keeper and defence nowhere to be seen, leaving Luke Ige with another simple opportunity to make it 3-1 and effectively close out the match as a contest.
It took Grays until ten minutes from the end to mount any further meaningful attack and the only spell of alarm inside the Witham box of the half. Malaki Toussaint had the final shot of a period of pinball, that was cleared downfield.
With the clock into overtime, Osude was still running and he was brought down inside the Blues box and Mr Hathaway pointed to the spot. Osude himself took the kick to complete the scoring at 4-1, leaving Grays with little to do but lick their wounds.
So the veil comes down again on Blues FA Cup dreams for another season, but in all honesty, they deserved little from the contest and we wish Witham well in the next round.

Final score: Grays Athletic 1 v 4 Witham Town

Grays Ath: Sambridge, Dariri, Skarna, Walker, Finneran, Humphrey (79, Perry), Gordon, Toussaint, Hirst, Sartorius (83, Craddock), Unwin (59, Remi)
Subs not used: Damrell, Long, Sandhu-Nelson, Carlos