It’s an old maxim in football that you usually only ever get one chance to giant-kill. Certainly on Saturday, Grays Ath had the chances to put one over on Leiston but failed to do so. And in the replay on Tuesday evening, the step 3 side showed their quality, with a fine display of pass and move football, made easier by an excellent playing surface - to which Grays had no answer.

Blues best chance was to keep the score level for as long as possible, to try and build some pressure. But from the outset, Leiston were playing a very different quality of football from that on show in the original game.

The opening goal when it came after 10 minutes, was somewhat fortuitous. Only Harvey Sayer will know whether his ball into the box was a cross or shot but the ball evaded everyone and nestled in the net, to give the home side a 1-0 lead.

Soon after there came the most controversial moment of the night. Ned Hepburn made ground down the Grays left wing and his cross was buried by Gabriel Chapps. Blues celebrations were though cut short by a flag from the linesman on the opposite side of the pitch who ruled that the whole ball had crossed the goal line before the cross. Was it a correct call, a brave one or a guess? Whichever it was, the scoreline remained unchanged - but who knows how the night might have panned out had the goal stood.

And to make matters worse for Grays, it was soon 2-0. Adam Mills chased down a long ball and seeing Blues keeper Danny Sambridge well off his line, lobbed the ball into an empty net.

Leiston were dominating possession but Grays showed just enough to keep the home side interested, for example when a nice exchange of passes ended with Tyler Brampton making his way into the penalty area and pulling the ball across the six yard box with no-one there to finish the chance. Alex Moss should also have done better when he got on the end of a Macca Joynes free kick, but his header missed the target.

The home side were not creating hatfuls of chances but were utterly clinical when in and around the box. They made it 3-0 on the half hour, when Mills advanced at speed down the left and finished smartly past Sambridge.

A late chance for Grays to get one back before the break was blasted over the bar by Denim Nnamudi.

Half time : Leiston 3 v 0 Grays Ath

Blues’ main aim in the second half was to avoid a shellacking which they did, although with the tie won, there was little for Leiston to play for.

It was though soon 4-0 when a cross from the left wing was only parried by Sambridge and Mills was on hand to complete his hattrick. And a fifth followed not long after when the impressive Joe Henman’s shot took a wicked deflection and found the net.
Both sides rang the changes from the bench - Leiston to rest players and Grays trying anything to find a better formula. In truth, the home goal was rarely threatened with any great menace. Too often, the Grays finishing either lacked the ruthless nature that Leiston showed or the front line simply failed to pull the trigger.

Blues did force a couple of corner without any reward. But the nearest to another goal was another shot from Henman that cannoned off the crossbar, Sambridge scooped the ball out and somehow the onrushing Leiston attack managed to put the ball over the bar from close range.

The final minutes were uneventful bringing a veil down on this season’s FA Cup exploits for Grays Ath. This was always going to be a challenging tie against a side from the level above but the failure to win on home turf made the job that much harder.

Mention must be made of the travelling Blues faithful, who made the long trip to Suffolk on a Tuesday night in their usual excellent numbers and supported the team to the bitter end.

But it is Leiston who progress to the next round and we wish them well.

Final score : Leiston 5 v 0 Grays Athletic

Grays Ath : Sambridge, Brampton, Joynes, Moss, L.Clark (76, Sammons), Hogan, Hepburn, Muldoon (68, McLean), Chapps (52, Kileba), Nnamudi, Effah (52, Harvey)

Subs not used : Drew, Hahn