Grays Athletic made a return trip to Parkside on Tuesday evening for a Velocity Cup tie against their replacements as tenants, Premier Division Hashtag United but came up second best, in a game where the final score was not really a reflection on the 90 minutes overall. The home side opted for a relatively strong line-up, whilst Grays chose to make changes, giving squad players time to impress.

Hashtag came out looking to impose themselves on the game and it didn’t take them long to do so. With just four minutes on the clock, Camilo Restrepo was allowed to advance into the Blues penalty area and plant his shot beyond keeper, Jayden Peglar for a 1-0 lead.

The same player then had another chance to extend the lead, but from a corner, he headed straight at Peglar.

The game should then have turned on the quarter hour. Matas Skarna’s perfect through ball sent Danny Gould clear but he never looked confident, seeming more worried about the defenders behind him than the chance to see the whites of home keeper Jack Giddens’ eyes, as he side-footed the chance well wide.

And Blues were made to pay when a fine flowing move by Hashtag saw Pedro Carvalho cross from the right, finding Jermaine Anderson in the middle who finished smartly for a 2-0 lead.

The home side had the ball in the net again but the opportunity was ruled out by the linesman’s flag. Then just before the break, Reon Smith-Kouassi tried his luck from distance for Grays but the chance was deflected out for a corner that Blues failed to convert.

Half time: Hashtag United 2 v 0 Grays Athletic

Blues came out for the second half showing a much greater sense of purpose. Smith-Kouassi shot again from distance before Elliott Sartorius set up Danny Gould who’s attempt went just wide. But for the first time in the game, Blues were dominating play and soon Sartorius played a pass through the defence to sub Louie Remi, who cut in and finished with aplomb to halve the deficit.

Unfortunately, Grays couldn’t maintain the pressure and this was as good as it got on the night. Peglar saved at the near post from Carvalho and the ball was put in the net again only for the other linesman to turn Hashtag’s joy to despair.

Another Blues sub, Aron Gordon was weaving his usual magic and caused panic in the home six yard box with the ball almost found its way across the line but to no avail.

From then on the home side’s superior strength and skill won out. Firstly, Grays failed to clear the ball when they had the chance and Sakariya Hassan pounced to make it 3-1 before Max Cornhill rose unchallenged in the box to head home for 4-1.

That looked to be that until a final late double salvo in injury time from Hashtag made the scoreline look far worse than it should have been. Darren Foxley snuck in at the far post to make it 5-1 from close range before in the dying seconds the ball again somehow squirmed across the line, from a scrum in the six-yard box, with the goal credited to Misha Djemaili but who really knows.

So whilst Hashtag deservedly advance into the next round, Grays will have more important matters to attend to at the weekend when back in league action.

Final score: Hashtag United 6 v 1 Grays Athletic

Grays Ath: Peglar, Skarna (46, Remi), Toussaint, Craddock (79, Sandhu-Nelson), Henry-Rose, Gould (60, Gordon), Sartorius, Humphrey (22, Machado), Dariri, Moss, Smith-Kouassi (60, Hirst)